


RE:wind

by Catch358



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Developing Friendships, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Male-Female Friendship, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2019-10-13 22:38:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 30,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17496701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catch358/pseuds/Catch358
Summary: Roxas and Xion are sent back 10 years ago into a world called Radiant Garden. With no way of getting back home, they befriend Isa and Lea, then soon find themselves becoming intertwined into the origins of the Organization as well as the story of Terra, Aqua and Ventus. With their existence on the line, what will become of Roxas and Xion in their journey through time?





	1. Beginning to End

_I remember it now...at least part of it_

_It all started on that day_

_The day I first met you_

A cracked white ceiling, a white bookshelf and a small white closet with a set of black cloaks offering the only color in the room that wasn't white. A sight, as one could imagine, that grew old very quickly, especially when Roxas had to wake up to it every morning. And just like any other morning he woke up to lately, he had to force himself out of bed after having another nightmare just to see the same blank white room with dirty organization cloaks and empty potion bottles littering the floor.

"Ughhhh," Roxas moaned, scratching the back of his head. "I feel like I was asleep way longer than I should've, I better get ready."

He weighed among the many, many downsides of being in the organization, having only one outfit available to him at all times at least cut down on the time it took to get ready each morning. Soon Roxas was in and out of his room, stepping out into the empty halls of the castle while fidgeting with the zipper on his cloak.

"-Hey Roxas!" Called out a familiar voice from behind him. He stopped walking and spun around to see Xion, a nobody like him and currently the only girl in the Organization, running over to his side with an infectious smile on her face.

"Good morning!" She chirped.

"Morning..."

They were similar, Roxas and Xion, both having blue eyes, a young age compared to the other members, and most importantly, they could wield the keyblade. They were the only ones with the power to carry out the Organization's plan of completing Kingdom Hearts, although, that's where the similarities between them ended...

"You look happy today," Roxas said, ending the short pause between them. "Wish I could say the same for myself."

"Ah well, I think it's because I actually had a good night's sleep for once."

"And I had another nightmare, didn't know what it was about, but it kept me up all night."

"Sorry to hear that, but at least the good news is we're going on a mission together..." She broke off momentarily to correct herself. "We  _were_  supposed to go on a mission together."

"What do you mean we  _were_?"

Xion gave Roxas a wry smile. "It means you're like 3 hours late and the super important heartless Saïx assigned us could be off to another world or something."

"Wait- really?! Oh no, Saïx is gonna kill me!"

Roxas scrambled into the Gray Room, a place where Organization members prepared and departed on their daily missions. Coordinator of such an "important" task was Saïx, a tall, brooding man with a constant look of contempt on his face, at least whenever Roxas saw him. This time when Saïx saw Roxas running into the Gray room (with Xion following closely behind), his facial expression was slightly more menacing than usual, but nonetheless fit properly between the category of stone cold glares and slighted frowns. "Roxas, tell me why you have yet to complete a mission I assigned to you 3 hours 13 minutes and 7 seconds ago." He uttered

"Because I-"

"That was a rhetorical question and look at me when I speak to you boy. You may not have emotions, but you will have respect for your superior."

Roxas averted his attention from the floor to the X-shaped scar etched deep into Saïx's forehead. He often wondered how he earned such a badge, with him being as cool tempered as well...an emotionless husk, but it would have to remain a mystery considering Saïx was about as approachable as a rabid wolf. Although given the choice, Roxas would definitely choose the carnivorous wolf over Saïx.

"I'm sorry, I'll go on my mission right away," Roxas said quickly.

"Yes you will." Saïx handed Roxas a crumpled sheet of paper. "Be off on your way now."

Xion nudged Roxas in the arm, attempting to soothe his nerves, before another voice cut. "-Geez lighten up Saïx or you'll scare them off." It teased.

"Axel!" Xion and Roxas exclaimed, spinning around on their heels to see his smirking face approach them from behind. He always did have a way of showing up at just the right time to get them out of trouble and today was no different, though he was noticeably more tired than usual, seeing their faces somewhere made him forget how dead tired he was.

"Man am I glad to be back here for once!" Axel plopped onto the couch across from them, then propped his legs on the table. Despite the castle of Nobodies having a generally lifeless, soul sucking atmosphere, it was nice at least one room was accommodating to the nobodies. "That was one hell of a mission! I can't wait to take a fat nap, what about you guys?"

"Taking a nap would be nice right about now." Roxas muttered.

Xion crossed her arms and gave Roxas a sharp look. "You can sleep all you want  _after_  the mission, Roxas. Don't forget you're the reason why we're late." She reprimanded.

"Yeah," Roxas began chuckling, unable to contain himself. "But did you hear him say I was assigned a mission '3 hours 13 minutes and 7 seconds' ago? That guy's gotta get a life."

Xion shared in his laughter only to break off abruptly when she could  _feel_  his presence suffocating them. Without as much as a word, Saïx commanded them to turn around to see his fist clenched and his signature death stare in full gear while a dark aura surrounded him, a once placid expression was now that of someone looking to murder.

Axel smiled at Xion and Roxas, parting silently with an exchange of hand waves and worried glances as they threw themselves into the darkness that would lead them to their mission's destination. Dark, smoky tendrils snaked and slithered around Roxas and Xion on their way, always an unpleasant experience, but Roxas kept himself busy by skimming through the mission report. "Uh Xion, did you read this?"

"Mm hm. We're dealing with a pretty powerful heartless, one that can warp time."

"You seem pretty calm about this, ah," He sent a teasing smile her way. "But, it's so like you to worry about this stuff."

"What? No, not me, I'm just channeling my inner nobody, no emotions, ha...ha...right? There's nothing to worry about."

"Then why is your keyblade out already? We're not even there yet."

"Huh what do you mean?" She hid the oversized key behind her back, quietly making it disappear. "I thin the darkness is getting to you."

Roxas shook his head. ' _Xion's definitely freaking out right now, she's just hiding it so she doesn't worry me, but is there really anything to worry about? Me and Xion have been through a lot of missions in a lot worse situations. A little time traveling heartless shouldn't be so bad.'_

_How wrong I turned out to be._

Finally, Roxas and Xion emerged out of the darkness into the quiet world of Twilight Town. Even with no heartless in sight, Xion had her keyblade in hand squeezing the handle with a tightness that made her knuckles white and making no attempt to hide it. She swung the keyblade aimlessly in the air, in her mind, practicing for the real deal. "So where do you think we should start looking for our target?" She eventually asked, fearful of even the silence.

"We can start looking around the train station."

"There's not much to look at, but it's a good start."

Not long after they began searching around Station Heights, a dark, eerie feeling swept across the field and sent a spine through their backs, enticing Roxas and Xion to regroup and stick close to each other. Roxas' unconsciously manifested in his hand, sensing the danger that was on the horizon.

Suddenly, a massive, humanoid heartless, rose from the depths of the darkness. It dripped an inky blank substance onto the ground as it made its ascent into the world of light, then stared at the two nobodies with its beady yellow eyes. The heartless made its judgment by pulling out a pale white scythe from its back and holding it in front of its body.

Realizing what was coming next, a rush of adrenaline pushed Roxas forward and he charged at the heartless, brandishing his keyblade. A valiant effort rendered in vain when despite how fast he  _thought_  he was running, his legs were moving slow and heavy like lead. "Xion, stay back!" Was what he wanted to say, but the slowness affected his speech as well, with Xion hearing only her name before rushing in after him.

"Roxas!" Xion tackled him out of the way before the scythe's blade could hit him. "The heartless is too powerful for us, we have to-"

She stopped mid-sentence, her body tied to the shackles of time just as he was being released from its hold.

"No, no, no! Damn it! There's no time to run, I'll just have to protect you from here-reflect!" A large white shield covered Roxas and Xion, momentarily protecting them from the heartless' scythe, but it merely teleported behind him and with one effortless movement, slashed straight through Xion's body.

Then she was gone, just like that.

Roxas frantically looked around, not a trace of her remained anywhere, as if she vanished into thin air. "Where did you take her?! Bring her back!" He demanded.

The heartless responded by raising its scythe once more.

"Please..." He fell onto his knees. "Bring her back..."

As the blade reached his body, all Roxas could do was gaze at the ground that once held Xion. Memories, old and new, flashed through his head like a storm. Despite being moments from impending doom, all he could think about was the mundane things, eating ice cream, hanging out with his friends at the clock tower, going on the day to day mission. That's what he did everyday, that's all he ever  _could_  to do, and now it seemed like his days as a nobody was over...

* * *

**Beginning To End**

"Roxas..."

"Roxas! Get up!"

He slowly opened up his eyes to see Xion with her anxiety stricken face easing up a little when he woke. "What...happened?" He mumbled out.

"Actually, I think the better question to ask is...where are we."

That's when it finally dawned upon Roxas,  _where were they_? It was a question that hung over his head as he stood up and collected himself, he'd never been at a place like this before in any of his missions. This place they were stuck right in the middle of was a grand, sprawling town, flooded with people from many different worlds and backgrounds that poured into the streets and locales.

There was, of course, an undeniably strong presence of heartless, especially coming from the giant castle that loomed over the flourishing town, but it was masked by an even stronger presence of light that shined from every corner of the town, even down to its foundation. A general loudness erupted from the bars, shops and restaurants scattered about, welcoming any outsider that wandered past its gates and enticing visitors to stay just a little bit longer.

There was just something radiating about the town, this world they happened upon by chance and Roxas and Xion couldn't help but smile at each other. Mostly because they were glad to see each other safe, but partly because whenever they were, it would be an interesting stay.

"Looks like that heartless decided to take us to a new world instead of, you know,  _killing us_ ," Xion said. "But don't you think there's something so familiar about here?"

"I know what you mean, but I can't say this world is the first to give me that feeling. I'm just glad we're away from that monster."

Xion let out a giggle. "You mean the heartless or Saïx?"

"Heh, both." He paced around before returning to Xion. "Sooooo now what? Wanna go back home and report our failure to Saïx?"

"Uh, definitely not now, but if we gather enough data about this world, it might suffice for Saïx to not  _maim_  us on our return." She suggested.

"Good idea, maybe there's even an ice cream shop!"

"Hopefully, if we're lucky!"

The two began their new mission down the cobblestone street, enamored by the all the sights, then subsequently lamenting over their total lack of munny. They reached an open area, past the noisiness of the town, where a gigantic sparkling fountain court laid surrounded by lush hanging gardens. A beautiful , captivating site that naturally attracted many of the townspeople, but today it was relatively quiet, leading Roxas and Xion to comfortably approach the fountain.

"How come we've never been here?" Xion asked.

"Beats me, but I'm glad we're here no-oooooooow!" Roxas fell down below into the collecting pools of water. "Ugh, watch where you're going!" He yelled after spitting out a mouthful of water.

"Ah- sorry about that! My bad!" A boy called out. He rubbed the back of his head hair, embarrassed, then turned to Xion, who was standing still next to him. "You know, they should really build a railing right here."

Xion's eyes widened with shock when she saw him; the fiery red hair sticking out wildly from his head, the sarcasm married to his voice, he may of been wearing different clothes (and was a lot shorter) but it was unmistakably  _him_. "A-Axel?! What're you doing here, any why are you so short?!"

"Short? What're you talking about I'm pretty tall for my age! And who's this 'Axel' guy you're talking about? Name's Lea, get it memorized!"

Her face twisted in confusion. ' _This doesn't make any sense. First off, Lea? That doesn't sound nearly as well as Axel. Maybe he's a heartless, no, that can't be unless...'_

"You gonna keep staring at me like that or what?"

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to."

"Sure about that?" He asked coolly.

"Um...hey, you're acting kind of weird, you ok?"

Lea furiously rubbed the back of his head, sinking into a flustered mess before bouncing back up with another one-liner, "Better than I'll ever be. I mean, geez, are you a dictionary? Cause you're adding meaning to my life!"

She gave him the blankest, beyond lost at this point look, oblivious to his advances. Lea sighed in defeat, his face turning as red as his hair, luckily, before it could get any more awkward than it already was, Roxas yelled out, "AXEL!" Then followed with, "What's up? I thought you were back at the castle!" He ran up to Lea, confused, but nonetheless happy to see him.

"Man what is with you two and Axel? I'm not Axel! I'm Lea!"

"Huh? You're what? And why do you look so-"

Xion inched towards Roxas, then tugged his arm. "Roxas, I need to talk to you." She whispered.

"If you'll excuse us,  _Lea_."

He shrugged.

Xion walked Roxas out of earshot from Lea where she placed her hands on his shoulders and looked intently into his eyes. Her sudden seriousness startled Roxas, but it gathered his attention. "Listen, this poor Axel imitator is not  _our_  Axel. I don't know where we are, but I have a feeling we're far from home."

"What do you mean?" He shook his head. "We can just use the darkness to get home!"

"That's not what I mean Roxas! I don't think we can get home that way!"

"No, that's not true. Come on, we have to get back to Axel for ice cream!" He created a dark portal and ventured into the beckoning darkness despite Xion's resistance. Then he ran, and ran, and ran throughout the black catacombs. There was no end in sight, nothing to go to or away from, nothing hiding away within the folds of the darkness. Nothing at all, their home, the void Castle of Nobodies that floated over an empty city, was gone, and so was Axel along with it. At least the Axel they knew, the Axel that made jokes, ate ice cream with them, and stayed by their side no matter what.

"Where are we?" Roxas asked himself one last time before yelling into the darkness that same question, as if it had all the answers hiding away somewhere, but the only answer he received was the touch of Xion's hand on his shoulder.

"Roxas...let's go back. There's nothing here for us."

"How could you say that? Aren't you scared, even a little bit?"

"Of course I am!" She cried out. "I'm so, so scared, but I haven't given up. Not now, when I realized something, and this is just conjecture, but I think we're somewhere in the past a really long time ago. Think about it, we were facing a heartless with time powers and we disappeared suddenly. Now we're seeing a younger version of Axel and the fact that the castle is gone just confirms my suspicion. I know it sounds crazy, but it's the only way I know to explain this."

"Well, I guess that makes sense when you say it like that."

"But if I'm right, that means we can never..." The weight of the words became too heavy for her to bear and she went mute. Roxas gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. It must of worked a little bit because her head bobbed back up, determination taking place over her doubt, and she squeezed Roxas' hand back. "Wherever we are, I think we're here for a reason, otherwise, we wouldn't even be here."

"So maybe whatever brought us here, will eventually bring us back," Roxas said. "In the meantime, looks like we're stuck with this Lea guy."

"Well if he's just a younger version of Axel then we should become fast friends!"

"Tell that to my butt that after he ran into me."

"Roxas!"

"Fine, whatever, if you say so, but let's not keep him waiting any longer."

They returned to the world of light to see Lea haplessly laying on the railing, when he saw the two had returned, he ran up to them. "Where were you guys? I look back and you two disappeared, I was starting to think you up and ditched me."

"Nah, we we were just talking about how you're not the real Ax-"

Xion stomped on his foot.

"I mean, um..." He awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "Let's just start this all over...my name's Roxas, nice to meet you."

"And I'm Xion! It's a pleasure to meet you as well."

"Right well, I'm Lea for the last time and I don't think I've seen the two of you around here before. You guys from a different world?"

"Yeah, we're from Twilight Town." Xion supplied. "What is this world called anyways?"

"You guys seriously don't know? And I thought I was slow, this world is Radiant Garden, light capital of the world, got it memorized?"

Xion and Roxas exchanged confused side-glances, the name definitely didn't ring any bells.

"Uh sure," Roxas said. "Mind showing us around, since we're new and all."

"I would on any other day, but see, me and my best buddy Isa decided to skip school today 'cause there's this new game that came out and we've been wanting to play it for forever. So I'm trying to keep a low profile you know, but from the looks of it, I'm pretty sure Isa got caught already."

"Isa?" Xion repeated. "So he's  _your_  best friend now..." She said sadly.

"Yep and you guys have to meet him! Maybe we can even play the new Yozora game together at his house, well, if he isn't grounded for life by now. I know, if you want, you can help me find him, I'll show you all the places we're not supposed to go."

Roxas nodded to Lea. "Sounds good to me, let's go!"

"Right!"

The trio ran down the busy streets of Radiant Garden, at least it was busy until everyone started running away screaming from the direction they were heading. Roxas and Xion summoned their keyblade at the sign of trouble and bolted straight through the crowds of people.

"Hey wait, what're you two doing?! Shouldn't we be, I don't know, running away with the crowd of screaming people?!" Lea's words of caution merely fell on deaf's ear as they were already dead set on facing whatever was causing everyone to run away. And there was a something-a group of monsters darting around a now empty restaurant, bouncing off the walls and ground.

Neither Roxas or Xion had seen the likes of them before, they were of a different variety; jagged, erratic creatures with sharp, red eyes that had perpetual emotions of sadness, anger, or even happiness inscribed on their face. Monsters they would eventually come to know as the Unversed. Regardless, monsters were monsters and they readied their keyblades.

"Must be a new type of heartless!" Roxas said.

"I know, let's defeat them before they defeat us-" Xion pointed her keyblade at the unversed. "Magnet!"

A large purple sphere forced the creatures into one space, creating an opportunity for Roxas to easily slash through them and vanquish them back to the darkness they were born from. Xion soon joined him and they finished off the fight with a satisfying fist bump, happy they were finally able to have a success following their long forgotten mission.

"That was so awesome! Where'd you learn to do all of that?!" Lea exclaimed.

"You're impressed by...me?" Roxas asked, excitement rising in his voice.  _'Usually it's the other way around between us, now Axel's like a little kid and I'm the adult!'_

"Of course! I wish I could do that, but all I have are my dingy frisbees. You gotta teach me some of those moves so I can give Isa a hell of a time whenever we get into fights!"

"-Don't embarrass yourself." A young boy around their age with shoulder length, spiky blue hair walked over to them with his hands in his pockets and a sly smirk on his face, trying to look as cool as possible in front of them. "I don't know how you expect to beat me in a fight when you looked like you were about to pee your pants just standing there and watching those two take care of the monsters," He said.

"Shut up! Talk about a 'supportive' friend. You don't look too good yourself, Isa."

"Maybe I'd look better if I wasn't running away from the castle guard for the past ten minutes. I'm kinda glad the monsters came so they could get him off my ass." Isa shifted his attention to Roxas and Xion. "'Sup, my name is Isa. Gotta say, I'm impressed with the way you handled those guys."

Roxas and Xion nodded slowly, dumbfounded by the younger version of Saïx standing before them, more surprised by the fact he actually  _complemented_  them and didn't try to bite their heads off. Not to mention his uncharacteristic display of emotion, they didn't think Saïx even knew how to raise the corners of mouth past his usual tight-lipped frown, let alone give them a whole, genuine smirk. That was almost a smile.

"What's with that look you're giving me? Not like I have three heads or anything."

"No sir!" Roxas said quickly. "Er uh...I'm...Roxas."

"...Xion." She supplied.

Roxas turned to Xion. "This version of Saïx is way better." He whispered.

"I know..."

Before the uncomfortable silence could rage on any longer, Lea broke it up with some small talk, "You know that Roxas and Xion are from a different world called Twilight Town, cool huh?"

"Really? Heard that place isn't so bad, the sun never sets, right?" Isa asked, once again facing Roxas and Xion. "But I'm more of a night type of guy, there's something about the moon I can't get enough of."

"I can't relate, nothing beats the sunset for me." ' _Talking to Saïx like an equal is so weird. He's changed so much.'_ "That reminds me, do you guys have any sea-salt ice cream here?" Roxas asked.

"'Course, Radiant Garden is where sea salt ice cream originated after all. Problem is, we're kind of, sort of, not ever allowed back there," Lea said.

"Wh-what do you mean by that?"

"Come on, we'll show you!"

After a series of confusing short cuts through places they had no business being at, they finally reached the downtown square. Shops of all kinds lined the streets with taller buildings, cutting into the skyline, while Lea carried most of the conversation, they made their way further and further down the street to see their long awaited sea salt ice cream shop at the end of the block.

"There it is!"

Before Roxas and Xion could run over, Lea stopped them. "Don't waste your money, I'm about to show you why we got banned from here." He stood up and walked over to the ice cream shop.

"He's just showing off." Isa muttered. "You guys must be pretty cool if Lea is getting ice cream for you."

"If you say so." Roxas huffed under his breath.

A cranky, old duck stood behind the ice cream shop stand, his eyes narrowed and he tapped his fingers along the ice cream stained counter. "I thought I told you not to ever return here if you know what's good for ya. Now where's the other lad?"

Lea crossed his arms. "It's just me this time around."

"Right, I didn't make me fortune from being dumber than the dummies. Now I know you're plotting something, I can see it in yer eyes!"

"What? Me? No...where would you get a silly idea like that Scrooge?" Lea pulled out one of his toy frisbees and dropped it behind his back. "-Oh hey you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"It sounded like a monster. You know a few of them started attacking the town earlier."

"Likely story lad, besides, did I also tell you I made my fortune by being tougher than the toughies!"

Before Axel could open mouth to argue, two of Scrooge's nephews ran over to the ice cream stand, a look of worry across their faces. "Uncle Scrooge! Uncle Scrooge! Huey is in trouble, this big ol' monster came outta nowhere and took him away!" Dewey yelled.

"Yeah yeah!" Louie chimed in. "We need your help Unca' Scrooge!"

"Don't worry boys, I'll give that monster the one-two, did I ever tell you about how I made my fortune by-"

"Yes! Now let's go, let's go!"

 _'That doesn't sound too good!'_  Lea ran back to his friends. "Hey, I think those monsters are back!"

"Again? Let's go Xion!"

"I'll help too," Isa said.

The three ran off to the outskirts of town."Wait up, I'm not exactly in shape like you guys are!" By the time Lea caught up, they were already in the middle of battling the giant monster. _'Ah, look at the thing, its arms are huge!'_

Roxas blocked an incoming swing from the unversed with his keyblade, then parried the attack, causing it to stagger back. Xion used the opportunity to cast a bind spell on the creature and golden chains wrapped around its gluttonous stomach and meaty arms. It was rendered immovable for as long as the spell endured, allowing Huey to break free of its grasp and return to his Uncle.

For the final act, Roxas and Xion moved behind to its back, where they struck their keyblades on its vulnerable spot. As promised, Isa helped out, taking a swing with a baseball bat he found lying around. With the three of them working together, it wasn't long before the unversed became a mere memory, its remnants scarring the ground black.

Scrooge along with his nephews approached the kids with a rare smile on his face. "Good to see I'm not the only one here with a lick of bravery. Thanks for returning my nephews back to me." He tipped his hat in gratitude.

"Well, we're happy to help." Xion replied.

"And thanks to you too Isa. I would'a never guessed you'd be helping me out with anything except to cause another a headache," Scrooge said.

Isa rubbed the back of his head. "Whatever." He mumbled.

"Oh- now I got a fine idea, you can all get free sea salt ice cream for a whole week!"

"Really?!" Roxas exclaimed.

"It's the least I could do."

"That's what I'm talking about! Free ice cream!" Lea cheered. "I almost feel bad for trying to steal it from you."

"Right...well let me rephrase that, free ice cream for a whole week for everyone except Lea!"

"Aw man! Me and big mouth!"

"No, you definitely had that coming!" Isa broke out into laughter and soon, despite how weird it felt to be laughing with the person they hated the most, Roxas and Xion couldn't help but laugh along with him.

Afterwards, the four of them decided on a much needed ice cream break by the fountain. Roxas and Xion thought it was the perfect place behind the clock tower and so they sat by the fountain, watching the sparkling water cascade down into the pool as they ate their sea salt ice cream. A comfortable silence rested between them while they chowed down on their ice cream, it was the first time Roxas and Xion could finally feel safe around Isa and Lea, although there was still having that ever lingering weirdness they couldn't quite shake off yet.

When Xion finished off the last few bites of her ice cream, she looked over to Isa and Lea. "So, how long have you two known each other?" She asked.

"'Bout to ask you the same thing. Me and Isa have known each other for a super long time, ever since grade school, right?"

"Wow, really? How'd you guys meet?" Roxas followed up.

"Lea used to get bullied a lot as a kid 'cause he was such a crybaby. Guess I kind of felt bad for him, 'cause it's not like me to pick up stray puppies, so I became his friend and taught him how to fight. The rest is history." Isa explained.

Lea roughly pushed on Isa. "You didn't have to go and tell them all of that! Besides, you used to get beat a lot more than I did!"

"Not my fault everyone wanted to fight me."

"Ah- you two really are close," Xion said. "Me and Roxas don't have nearly as interesting backstory as you two, we just met 201 days ago and ever since then we've been best friends!"

"Best friends? Man, hope she didn't just friend zone you Roxas." Lea remarked.

"Huh? What do you mean? I like being her friend!" He protested.

Lea and Isa chuckled to each other.

"If that's what you want. Sorry, we just assumed you two were like, together. Or at least on the verge of it," Isa said.

"Well we are together!" Roxas argued. "We're always together."

"Wait, so you guys  _are_  dating?" Lea asked.

"What are you talking about? What is that?"

"You seriously don't know that is? You're hopeless man!"

Isa and Lea broke out in laughter, of course Roxas remained oblivious, but Xion for some unshakable reason, became deeply embarrassed. She quietly chewed on her ice cream stick. _'Is it bad that I kind of prefer the old Saïx now.'_

Meanwhile, perched on top of a high building, a shadowy figure with a pitch black helmet watched the four of them from afar. ' _There's something about them that's driving me crazy, whatever, I'll find out soon enough when I beat them to the ground.'_


	2. Encounter

Roxas woke up to a cracked ceiling, he rolled his head over to see a stained beige wall that glared back at him. ' _I'm in a bed.'_  He thought as he sat up, pushing the threadbare blanket off of his body. "...I remember what happened now, ugh." His head was pounding hard, like his brain was trying to burst of his own skull.

He briefly scanned the room for a cure potion that would alleviate his pain, then swung his legs over the broken heater and picked up his Organization cloak from the floor. He eased himself down into the old, creaky sofa chair hugging the back wall and took the cure potion laying haphazardly on the adjacent desk. ' _Axel's probably worried about us, that, or he's pissed we ditched him. I don't even wanna think about how Saïx is feeling. If he's feeling anything at all.'_

Roxas thumbed around with the empty cure potion bottle. He never took a moment to really inspect it, considering the only time he ever used it was in dire, life threatening situations, now he was just using it for a stupid headache. ' _I know I told Xion not to worry, but really, I think I was just telling myself that.'_  He thought back to yesterday when Xion disappeared right in front of him and all he could do was stand there. His own self doubts started swarming his head, giving him another headache no potion could fix.

' _If I don't have a heart, then why does it hurt so much?'_

The sound of the shower stopping stole the attention away from himself as moments later, Xion stepped out of the bathroom with her Organization cloak on looking refreshed and content before frowning when she saw him sulking in the sofa chair. "What's wrong Roxas?" She plopped down on his bed. "Had another nightmare?"

"Oh uh...nothing, just a headache." Roxas mustered up a small smile. "Hey Xion, tell me why we decided to rent the cheapest room imaginable."

"We're not exactly made of munny. This was Lea's idea to stay here anyways, apparently it's the best, 'low-end' motel in town." She smiled to herself. "Leave it to him find us a place like this...but what do you think we should do now?"

"We should probably find some answers. There has to be someone here who can help us go back to our time, we should go find Ax...er, Lea and see what he knows."

"That's not a bad idea, but yesterday Lea said he and Isa were gonna be at a place called 'school'. We'll have to go start looking around there first."

"Right!" He jumped to his feet. "Let's get outta here."

Before they could leave their room, however, a sharp object spiraled straight through their window and etched itself deep into the door. "Another heartless?!" Xion exclaimed, her keyblade coming to hand.

Roxas examined the object, despite its monstrous appearance, it was the same weapon both him and Xion used against the heartless in combat. "No...it's a keyblade?"

"Nice catch." The keyblade disappeared and reappeared into the hand of a boy in a jet black mask; Vanitas. It was impossible to gauge how he was feeling, but he certainly didn't have any good intentions for them so Roxas wasted no time in clashing with the enigmatic boy.

"Who are you?! Why are you here?!" Roxas demanded.

"Heh, heh, isn't it obvious, Ventus? To fight you!"

Roxas clenched the handle of his keyblade. "I'm not Ventus!" He swung his keyblade at him again, only for Vanitas to simply grab the blade with his bare hand and attempt to stab Roxas with his own keyblade.

"Get away from him!" Xion picked up the nightstand between the two twin beds and it smashed over his head, giving Roxas enough time to escape from his grasp. Vanitas directed his anger towards Xion now after previously ignoring her, shooting an array of dark spheres her way. She used a reflect spell against the dark spheres, then used the flimsy spring mattress as a shield against Vanitas' subsequent keyblade slash. Fortunately, she was left intact while the mattress was cut clean in two, however, her stunt proved to only anger Vanitas and he snatched Xion by the hair, pinning her down on the wall.

"My keyblade can cut through steel if I want it to, and it can cut through you!"

"Cut through this!" Roxas slammed his keyblade down on Vanitas' head from behind, being the final blow to cause his helmet to shatter upon impact and reveal his true face. Xion's eyes widened with shock when she saw the boy's spiky black hair, and piercing yellow eyes sticking out from the shattered pieces of the helmet, instantly recognizing him.

"S-Sora? No...you're nothing like him!" Xion pushed him away and returned to Roxas' side.

"What's your deal?!" Roxas yelled. "Just leave us alone!"

Laughter from Vanitas soon filled the room as he was grasping at the remains of his helmet. When he turned around, Roxas instinctively put his arm over Xion, causing Vanitas to laugh even more at what he perceived as a futile action. "You're not as pathetic as I thought, Ventus. Too bad I have to keep you alive, but beating you to near death will be just as fun!"

"I told you, stop calling me Ventus- blizzard!" Roxas shot a round of ice blasts towards Vanitas, but he simply vanished into thin air before teleporting right in front of him. Grinning now, Vanitas snatched Roxas by the collar and threw him with enough force so he would smash straight through the glass window behind them.

Without giving as much as a second's thought, Xion immediately jumped out of the shattered window after Roxas. Saving Roxas was second nature to her at this point and she swiftly caught him in her arms, then landed harshly on the ground below. "You okay?" She asked.

"I'm great, not like I didn't  _just_  get thrown out of a window."

Xion dropped Roxas on the ground. "Yeah you're fine."

"The fight's not over yet!" Vanitas leaped out of the window as well. Without his mask, they could clearly see the blood lust that constantly oozed out of Vanitas, from the vicious grin fastened on his face to the dead gaze of his eyes. He was about to step towards them and fulfill his inner violent desires until a flurry of sharp metal fragments, radiating with energy, stuck to the ground around him.

"Ah, ah, ah! Let's not get ahead of ourselves, tiger." Appearing from out of the shadows was a man wearing a guard's uniform and a striking red, tattered scarf around his neck. His black hair was cut at shoulder length and slicked back so it wouldn't get in his face while he was working. As he was making his way towards his target, he gave Roxas and Xion a passing side glance, and they recognized him immediately.

"Damn it Braig, why the hell are you getting in my way?!" Vanitas barked.

"Now is that any way to speak to an adult? Man, the old coot should've really taught you some manners, which speaking of, you ought not to stray from the path he's laid out for you."

"What does Xehanort care if I have some fun."

"He cares if you die and mess everything up."

"Me, dying? Don't make me laugh."

"As if. Look whose helmet got smashed to pieces, oh- and is that a little blood I see on your cheek?" Braig brandished his sharpshooter twin arrow guns, then pressed it on his forehead. "Listen here, don't think you can do whatever you want here, this is my turf. I won't let you defy Xehanort's orders to play a stupid game of cat and mouse, got it?"

"Whatever."

Braig eased up on his arrowguns and he watched as Vanitas begrudgingly retreated back into the darkness. "Be a good boy now." He then faced Roxas and Xion, a smirk on his face. "Don't think I've seen the likes of you kids 'round here."

"Why did you help us?" Xion asked defensively.

"What do you mean? Isn't the pleasure from doing the right thing and helping out two kids enough reward?"

"Somehow I doubt it." She scoffed.

"Heh, smart little girl." He walked closer to them, then crouched down to their level. "Let's just say I'm following orders. And you know, that reminds me, another one of my orders as castle guard is to make sure  _all_  kids go to school."

Next thing they knew, they were in a small office room being lectured by a grumpy old man. According to the title proudly displayed on his polished, redwood desk, he was apparently head master, a fact that humored Roxas to how a feeble old man like him could ever deserve the title 'master'. The head master's long talk mostly went in one ear and out the other, but then he started booming about how 'hideous their outfits were' and how 'the academy's rules have a strict uniform policy' and they were quickly shoved into separate bathrooms and given a fresh change of clothes consisting of (for Roxas) a blazer, tie, pants and shoes.

After giving up on whatever a tie was supposed to be, Roxas stepped out of the bathroom wearing a standard black blazer that fit tightly over his white button up shirt. The gray pants were loose fitting, though the dress shoes were a half a size too small all around making the school uniform an uncomfortable experience. Xion met up with him in the halls with the same uniform except it actually flattered her figure. Instead of starched pants she wore a plaid folded skirt with knee high socks and a neatly put together tie around her neck.

They were both equally uncomfortable, having never worn anything outside of the drab Organization cloak, but it was a welcome change of pace that differentiated their usual appearances. _"_ You uh...look different." Roxas croaked.  _'What's wrong with me, why do I feel so nervous around her all of a sudden.'_

Xion smiled. "You look different too, but I think you're missing something." She stepped close to Roxas and fixed his tie for him. "There, now it doesn't look so awkward."

"Thanks." He felt face getting hot.

"What's wrong? Why is your face so red?"

"I uh...um..." He hated himself for having a trembling voice and he hated himself even more for not knowing why.

"Roxas." She repeated with growing worry in her voice.

"S-Sorry, I just feel really...weird. Must still be shaken from our fight with Vanitas."

"I know what you mean, something tells me that's not gonna be the last time we see him. I doubt Vanitas will find us in this school anytime soon, but we shouldn't stay out in the open like this. Let's report to class using this 'schedule' the headmaster gave us, maybe we'll even find Lea and Isa."

"Ha, leave it to you to treat like a mission."

She shook her head dismissively. "At least we know where to go now."

*ring-ring

By the sound of the bell, teachers poured out into the once empty halls, moving from one class to another. Roxas and Xion managed to find their class only being 15 minutes late. "You must be the new students, hello, I'm Ms. Shinra!" She happily greeted from her desk. Roxas and Xion could tell she wasn't exactly thrilled at the thought of having two more students to rein in, but she tried her best to make them feel welcome, "I'm your history teacher for the next period. We were just in the middle of our lunch break, so if you'd like to take out your lunch, please feel free. And don't worry about the loads of homework and tests, I'll get you caught up on everything you missed."

"Right, thanks," Roxas said.

"Yes, thank you Ms. Shinra," Xion said.

They took their seats in the only open desks at the back, while most of the other students were sitting around in groups, chatting away and eating the boxed lunch they brought, Roxas and Xion were stuck staring at an empty desk.

"Man, if I knew we could bring food, I would've brought a ton of ice cream," Roxas said.

"I know what you mean, watching other people eat sucks..."

Before they could sulk anymore at their lack of food, the door opened up and Lea and Isa walked in carrying cleaning supplies. Once they set them down at the front of the class, they immediately approached Roxas and Xion. "Hey! Nice to see you two, but what're you even doing here?" Lea asked, propping himself up on a desk, meanwhile Isa settled for sitting in a chair.

"They forced us to go to school too. You wouldn't believe the morning we had," Roxas said.

"I can imagine," Isa said. "The whole school's been talking about what happened at the motel Lea took you to. Apparently some burglar came in and trashed the place. You guys weren't hurt or anything, right?"

Lea let out a nervous cough. "Yeah uh, sorry about that. Usually Radiant Garden's a really safe place with the castle guard around, but they took care of it so there's nothing to worry about."

"I wouldn't take their word for it...this town is definitely in danger!" Xion rose from her desk, stirred to action by her own words. "We have to leave this place as soon as possible."

"You mean like ditch school?" Isa whispered.

"If that's what it takes."

Isa shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Listen, I don't think it's a good idea to ditch school just to investigate something that has nothing to do with you."

"Man you lost your edge Isa!" Lea teasingly punched him in the shoulder. "What happened to junior high? You used to ditch like at all the time, don't tell me you actually care about school now."

"Of course not! But it was cool to ditch back then, now if you ditch school you'll just be drawing a big L on your forehead. It's not worth the risk."

"See Isa's just a total sellout." He leaned in closer to Roxas and Xion. "Isa's just mad the girl he likes started ignoring him after we ditched yesterday, but I don't mind skipping school for you guys!"

"Shut up Lea! That's not true! I just don't see why you guys can't wait until after school."

"I'll explain why after we leave since it's not exactly something we can talk about out loud in a place like this." Roxas insisted.

"Save it. I'm not interested, but I won't stop you guys from making fools out of yourselves."

_'Whatever. Not like I could ever trust you to begin with.'_  Roxas turned back to Lea. "So you'll help us?"

"'Course! Friends have to lean on each once in a while, right?"

"Right." Roxas smiled. ' _At least you're still the same, Axel.'_

"So the fastest and easiest way to escape is to jump out the window. Shouldn't be too hard, we'll wait until they're distracted."

"Ahem! It's time to start cleaning up the classroom." Ms. Shinra announced. "I'll be starting my lecture in 15 minutes."

Roxas and Xion watched as the students left their desks and began fixing up the classroom, even Lea and Isa begrudgingly put in their fair share of work until they were the only ones who remained at their desk. "What's going on?" Roxas asked Xion, who shrugged in response.

"-Excuse me!" A student with square glasses and long black hair delicately styled into a neat bun stood before Roxas and Xion. She placed her hands firmly on her hips and repeatedly tapped her foot on the floorboard. "You two are new so I don't expect you to know much, but we're expected to clean the classroom after lunch. I'll be picking your cleaning assignment as class representative, but next time, don't just sit there and gawk while everyone else does the work!"

"Huh? You don't have servants who do that stuff?"

"Yeah, it's us." She pushed a rag and bucket into Roxas' hands and sent them to clean the windows.

"Xion..." Roxas whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I hate school."

"Me too." She soaked her rag in their bucket of soapy water. "Is it weird I rather be doing life threatening missions than be stuck here?"

"No, I kinda miss it too...but mostly I miss Axel. I wonder what he's doing?"

"He's probably looking for us. Not like he'll never find us..."

"That's cause we'll find him first!" Roxas boasted, attempting to cheer her up. It worked on her a little bit as she produced a small smile for him, but it wasn't enough to get rid of the wistful look in her eyes. "Don't worry Xion, we'll be back before you know it. I promise." He tried again.

"I should be the one telling that to you," She said quietly.  _'It's my fault we're here.'_

Roxas could tell she wasn't in the mood for talking so he returned to his work.  _'Huh, looks like this window can be pushed out. I'm not exactly excited about jumping out of another window, but it's our best shot. I'll leave right now while everyone's cleaning.'_

He put his rag down, then pressed his hand on the window pane.  _'Right let's do it!'_

"..."

"..."

_'Anytime now Roxas.'_

"What're you doing?" Xion suddenly asked.

"N-Nothing!" He tried to retrieve his rag, but accidentally bumped his arm on the water bucket instead causing it to spill all over Xion's skirt "Oh no! I'm so sorry Xion, I'll fix that for you! Aer-"

Xion covered her hand over his mouth before he could enunciate the wind spell. "Don't be stupid Roxas! I'll just clean myself up." She left in a hurry as the classroom was filling up with laughter.

"You sure messed that up, Roxas." Lea put his hand on Roxas' shoulder. "Don't worry, girls can get pretty complicated if you push the wrong buttons."

"Well I feel like I've been pushing all the wrong buttons today."

"Pretty much." Lea agreed.

"Oh thanks!" He sarcastically remarked. "You're not that much of a supportive friend either y'know."

"Heh heh, glad you got that part memorized."

"How could I forget? Speaking of, this escape plan of yours, Lea..."

"I didn't forget either. The best time's definitely gonna be during her lecture when everyone's bored half to sleep. She won't even notice when we give her the slip."

"Sounds like a plan!"

Roxas and Lea went back to their desk as the teacher was beginning her lesson. It didn't take long for her to get lost in her own long winding lecture about the history of the shifting politics and government of Radiant Garden which was when Xion came back to class and took her seat next to Roxas. For the longest time, neither of them gave each other as much as a passing glance, until Xion eventually gave in and passed Roxas a note.

He immediately unfolded the note. "' _Your fly is down_ '." He read to himself.

Roxas crumpled up the note and threw it at Xion, who was giggling at him, she leaned over to Roxas and whispered, "Sorry, I couldn't help myself, but anyways, do you have any good ideas on how we're getting out of here? I wish they didn't take our cloaks away so we could just escape using the darkness."

"I know, right? But Lea's working on something for us."

"Then I'll hold him to it."

"Or...maybe he doesn't have to. Look at the window!"

While the teacher was in the middle of wrapping up her lecture, the unversed they faced yesterday appeared outside the window. They attempted to break their way through, however the windows were made of practicality indestructible glass so all they could do was prowling around and scratching on the windows like stray cats. Strangely enough, the students didn't even notice the monsters outside as they were all either busy vigorously writing down notes or drooling on their desks.

Roxas took the chance anyway and shot up from his desk. "Everyone, get out of here! Those monsters are trying to attack this place!" He shouted.

"Roxas, sit down!"

"No, Mrs. Shinra, he's right for once! There's monsters outside!" Lea shouted.

It wasn't long before the classroom dissented into total chaos, Lea nodded to Roxas and Xion, then they slipped out of the window where they made quick work of the unversed.

"Come on, follow me! I know the way!" Lea exclaimed.

The three made a break for it, elated to finally breathe fresh air after being locked in solitary confinement for the past two hours. The school's campus was surprisingly massive, containing a diverse array of sports fields and even an athletic swimming pool, but for what it had in size, it severely lacked in security. They made their way through the vast grassy field without much trouble until they reached the gate that served as their only roadblock to freedom.

Although, the gate was certainly a formidable obstacle, it had an incalculable height, the steel bars reached on for seemingly forever into the sky. Not to mention the nice touch with the vicious spike decorating the top of the bars. A gate of this caliber would certainly discourage any  _normal_  student from climbing the gate, but they divorced themselves from normal a long time ago.

"Alright." Roxas stretched out his arms and legs. "We'll just have to jump, let's do this."

"Uh maybe you guys have superhuman abilities, but I don't!" Lea said.

"Right, I forgot about that. I'll just carry you up in my arms." Xion offered.

"Wh-What?! You'll carry  _me_? Aren't the roles getting swapped here?"

"Ugh Lea, stop making this complicated!"

"Ok-ok, fine! You win!"

"-Or you can just use the gate."

They turned around to see Isa on the other side of the gate, he kicked it open, giving them an easier option of escape. But all they did was stand there, dumbfounded at Isa's unexpected change of heart. "Well are you coming or not? I don't have all day," He said, impatient with them.

"Isa? How'd you get here?" Xion asked.

"Is that really important right now?!"

"Yeah, and I thought you said leaving school was useless and it would ruin your image," Roxas said.

"Obviously I changed my mind! So are you gonna come or stand there like a dumbass, because I know a place where we can hideout safely."

Lea smirked. "Heh, I knew you wouldn't let us down, Isa."

However, just as they were about to escape the school's clutches, a line of arrows punctured the ground between the four. "Whoa, now wait a minute! You didn't think it was that easy to escape, as if!" Braig appeared from behind Isa and grabbed him by the collar, dragging him back inside the school campus.

"Now be good kids and go back to class or I'll have to-" Before he could finish his threat, his head was frozen by a blizzard blast.

Breathing heavily, Roxas lowered his keyblade, shaken from his own impulsive actions.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! You can't attack the castle guard!" Isa yelled.

"It's not like he was on our side anyways!"

"Whatever! We have to get out of here! Come on!"

Without any further hesitation, the four ran away as fast they could to school's weest entrance on the opposite side. After there was enough distance from him, the stark quietness of the campus became apparent. "Hey, uh..." Lea took a moment to catch his breath. "Is it just me or did the campus grow overnight? 'Cause I swear I saw that same tree like five different times at this point."

"What're you talking about? There's only one big tree on campus..." Isa slowed down to a stop and the others followed suit. "Now that you mention it, we should've been at the gate by now, it's like we're not getting any closer to it."

_'The Xigbar we know can control space, which is probably what he's doing now.'_  Xion snuck a glance over to Roxas who appeared to be coming to the same conclusion since they both summoned their keyblades at the same time. Amidst the silence of waiting for an attack, Roxas was unexpectedly struck in the shoulder by an arrow.

"Roxas!" Xion yelled out.

"I'm fine! We have to deal with him first if we wanna get out of here!"

They were suddenly surrounded by a sky populated by arrows, each at different positions in space, but they only pointed at one target. Xion helped Roxas to reflect the arrows away from him and when the two worked together, it became a spectacle all of its own. Their keyblades intertwined, locking with each other, their movements in perfect synchronization. They knew each other's fighting styles, so well, if one of them slipped, the other would back them with effortless fluidity. All Lea and Isa could do was watch in awe, taking a back seat while they did all the sweating.

When the last of the arrows fell on the ground, Roxas and Xion shared a smile with each other.

Intrigued, and even a little impressed by their reflexes (for a couple of kids anyway), Braig revealed himself standing upside down on the sky, using the air itself as a walkway. "Looks like you kiddos figured out my little space trick, huh?"

"Anyone could've figured something as simple as that," Isa said.

Lea crossed his arms. ' _Wasn't I the only one who noticed it?'_

"As if. Why else do you think this school has a 0% truancy rate? 'Cause of this guy." He teleported to the ground right in front of them, startling them in the process.

"Maybe because you killed them first! What was the big idea of shooting all those arrows at us?" Roxas shouted.

"'Us'? I was directing all of my attacks towards you specifically. Since you attacked a member of the castle guard, you're no longer a student of this school." He pointed his arrowgun at Roxas' forehead. "That means I can do whatever I want with you now!"

"How about you start by letting me leave this school if I'm not a student anymore!"

"Ha, that's cute. Hate to break it to you kid, but you're my prisoner now and you're going where I take you!"

Roxas swung his keyblade at Braig only for him disappear. He immediately cast a reflect spell, covering his back from a round of arrows, then subsequently dodged another round of arrows gunned for him while Xion backed him up. This time around, the arrows were truly unpredictable and Xion was shot through her arm by a tricky arrow despite her best efforts.

"Xion! Damn it, where are you Xigbar?!" Gripping his keyblade handle, he made an attempt to run away in the direction of the freeshooter, but Xion quickly grabbed him by the arm.

"What're you doing?" He asked.

"He's obviously trying to lure you out. Let's stick together so we'll have a better chance of beating him!"

"Maybe it's better that way so he won't get a chance to hurt you."

"Stop it, Roxas! You don't have to worry about me all the time!" She squeezed his arm. "We're a team, I'll always be with you no matter what!"

"Well I'm tired of you getting hurt because of me! I have to be strong enough to protect you." He snatched his arm away. "...I'm sorry Xion, but I'll see you later."

"No, Roxas! Please!" She protested.

Her words fell on deaf ears, he already made his decision and he disappeared into the reaches of space. She stood there, dejected and hesitant to chase after him even though she knew he would end up needing her. Despite how hurt she felt, they were still partners, and that would never change no matter how far he ran away. Of course she had to come to his rescue, if only to slap some sense into him.

"Hmph, leave it Roxas to ditch us like that," Isa said.

"Yeah, but don't worry, Xion, we'll find him!" Lea encouraged. "He's gotta be around here somewhere, they couldn't of gotten far."

But as they scoured across the school campus, it soon became clear that Braig and Roxas were long gone. The only signs of their remains were sparse traces of blood soaked into the grass and discarded arrows, which Xion picked up and twirled in between her fingers. She was still for a moment, thinking quietly to herself before spinning around to meet Isa and Lea. "Braig is apart of the castle guard, right?"

Yeah, what about it," Isa said, crossing his arms.

Xion held up the piece of arrow in the direction of the distant castle. "Then I have an idea of where they are." She awkwardly parted ways with them until she was stopped in her tracks by the call of Lea's voice.

"Hey, you're not going without us, are you?!" Lea exclaimed.

"Huh? Well you guys aren't exactly..." She struggled to put her inner thoughts into words, stalling only to save their feelings, until she eventually muttered out, "...battle ready."

Lea flipped out his frisbees. "You guys think you can do whatever you want! Well I'm sick of it! As long as we're friends, we'll always be there to bring you back!"

"I just want to kick his ass for putting me through all of this," Isa said.

Lea elbowed Isa in the stomach.

"Er...friends always stick together or whatever, I'm not good with this sappy shit."

Touched by their conviction for someone they had only known for such a short amount of time, Xion stepped closer and hugged the both of them. "Thank you so much, I'm happy to have you two as friends." When she let go, they were both visibly flustered and embarrassed. She smiled to herself, finding their reactions cute, then turned towards the long awaited school gates where they could truly, finally escape the clutches of the school.

A while after the trio were well on their way towards the castle, it seemed they didn't have to go as far as they initially thought because walking ahead of them down the street, in a different change of clothing no less, was unmistakably Roxas. They ran ahead, yelling out his name, but he didn't even acknowledge their presence, which of course didn't make Xion any happier to see him.

When Xion caught up to 'Roxas', her first immediate instinct was to slap him right in the face. "Don't you ever leave me like that again!"

"OW!" He rubbed his now bright red cheek. "What's your problem?! I don't even know you...and I'm  _not_  Roxas!"

"What're you talking about Ro..." Xion stopped herself, there was something so unfamiliar about him. She felt it wrong to even call him 'Roxas' and instead switched initiatives to treat him exactly what he was to her; a stranger. "Wait-who are you?! You're not Roxas!"

"Now you realize that?!"

Xion shook him back and forth. "Where is he?! Are you a heartless?!"

"Calm down! I don't know who Roxas is, ok!"

She let go of him, her eyes drew towards the ground, unable to look at his face. "Then...who are you, really?"

"...My name is Ventus."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a very arduous chapter to write, but it's done. BBS trio is finally here in Radiant Garden!
> 
> Fun fact, I was actually inspired by the yakuza games for writing the fight scene between Roxas, Xion and Vanitas in the motel that's why there's a lot of furniture smashing.


	3. Wayfinder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, but y'all know kh3 is out and it left me in pieces. The new information that was revealed about Lea and Isa's past won't affect anything because it'll just have to happen after my story ends.
> 
> In any case, thank you for all the reviews and support. It means a lot to me and I'm grateful to have this opportunity to share with you guys :)

"What a peculiar subject, it doesn't appear he's from here."

"Great deduction, captain obvious."

"I  _mean_  to say he's not of this world, or any other. Allow me some time to research him in order to produce a more in-depth analysis."

"Whatever. Just make sure he stays out of the way, if I find he's escaped, then I'll deal with him myself."

"Oh that won't be a problem, Ienzo fetch me the caliper."

A blinding white light forced Roxas to wake up and he found himself restrained to a steel table. "So you've awoken," Said the taller of the two scientists. He smiled at Roxas in a peculiar way, taking sadistic delight when the color drained from his face. "Do you know where you're from, boy?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Roxas said.

His comment merely made one of his withering eyebrows arch and he proceeded to probe him. "It'll be less painless if you answer my questions." He raised his head. "Ienzo, the scissors."

Roxas dwelled on the scientist's face, recognizing his sunken features. "Right- you're Vexen." He muttered. "Let me out of here, now!"

"Even." He corrected. "You've seen me somewhere before? You really are from a different reality."

Even leaned closer to Roxas' face, then snipped off a lock of his hair. "Run this sample through the computer, Ienzo."

"How do you know that?!"

"Because someone who looks exactly like you came by here recently asking about some dreaded 'Terra'. You're obviously not him, unless you happen to be a pair of identical twins."

"Identi- what?"

"Didn't think so. Alternate reality is just one of many hypotheses I thought of. Unfortunately, if that means I'm right, you won't be here for very long."

"What're you talking about?!" He struggled to get out of his restraints. "Ugh! I said, let me out of here!"

"Absolutely not."

"But I uh...I really have to go to the bathroom!"

"Please, even if I was stupid enough to believe such a cliche excuse, we have plenty of disposable units right here in this lab."

' _Damn it, that was my best shot. Come on, I need to think of an actual plan, what would Xion do right now? Actually she'd probably slap me right now...so what would not-mad-at-me Xion do?'_

"Looks like you've given up on escape, good. Now, Ienzo, the heart extraction scanner."

Ienzo shook his head.

"Oh that's right, it's in Master Ansem's study. I'll go fetch it, you watch over our dear patient here very closely."

He propped up a chair close to Roxas and opened up a book.

' _I think I have an idea, I just need to distract him.'_  Roxas turned his head over to Ienzo, then placed his hands on the underside of the restraints and applied a slow burning fire spell "...Zexion, I can't believe you're just a little kid now."

"How do you know who I am?"

"You heard him, I don't belong here."

"I can believe that, but the name 'Zexion', it's an anagram for my name with an 'X', right? So is Vexen."

"What's a ana..uh…"

"Anagram." He supplied. "Wherever you're from, me and Mr. Even must be there too."

"Yeah I guess." ' _Does that mean my name is an anagram too?'_

"Then if my hypothesis is right, can you tell me anything about me from your reality?"

"Oh yeah, you'll become a nobody." He answered frankly.

"Well that's not very nice."

"Don't worry about it, I'm like you too." Finally, Roxas broke free from the restraints.

"Get back here! I'll call the castle guard right now!"

"Yeah, go ahead."

Roxas ran out of the laboratory and down the arched hallways. He could hear the thump-thump-thump sound of marching footsteps echoing throughout the castle, homing in on his location and growing louder the longer he stalled. Riding on the path of a snap judgement decision, Roxas flew down a set of stairs into the lower level of the castle where the pipelines etched deep into the walls. No longer hearing the anxiety inducing footsteps chasing after him, he wandered around the facility, hoping to find a way out.

However, the further he ventured through the basement, the less likely that option seemed to be the case. The basement was wholly empty with the only ones to keep him company were the occasional unversed he swatted away and his own troubling thoughts that began ringing loudly in his head. ' _You should've listened to Xion, now she probably hates you. I thought I was doing her a favor, but I just put myself in even more danger. Why the hell am I so stupid. What's wrong with me?!'_

"Ven...Ven?!" A voice he didn't recognize called out to him, it startled him a bit, but he was nonetheless relieved not to be alone.

The voice belonged to a tall, muscular young man with spiky brown hair and a handsome face to match. He ran up to Roxas, not looking as happy as he was to see him. "What're you doing here, Ven? You shouldn't be playing around at a place like this, it's crawling with unversed."

"Yeah I know, but it's not like I  _wanted_  to be here."

He crossed his arms. "I don't like your attitude, Ventus."

"How many times do I have to say that I'm not Ventus!"

"I don't have time for your games, Ven! And what're you doing without your armor, how do you expect to leave this world without your keyblade glider?"

"A keyblade glider, that sounds cool!" _'It defensively sounds a lot better than using the darkness.'_

"Yeah it is, er...don't get me off track!" Terra went quiet for a moment, thinking to himself. ' _Maybe he isn't Ven, he might even be an unversed. There's only one way to know for sure.'_ "Ven, what's my name?"

"I...don't know."

"Then I know exactly what you are!" His keyblade, Earthshaker, formed in his hand. It was large and heavy, suiting a dark brown color and flat blade with a brass finish, a keyblade that would cut down any unversed easily.

Roxas, reading his movements, countered his keyblade with his own, catching Terra off guard.

"Didn't know the unversed could wield keyblades now!"

"I'm not the unversed!" Roxas shouted, struggling to hold his own under the weight of Terra's keyblade. "Listen, whoever this 'Ventus' kid is, I'm not him! My name is Roxas, I'm just looking for my friends!"

"Your friends?" With one look at his pleading eyes, Terra understood everything about him. His keyblade disappeared and he kneeled down to his level. "You left them, didn't you?"

"H-how did you know?"

Terra averted his eyes. "Let's just say I've had experience. I know a kid like you thinks he can do everything by himself, but any path you take, you should never take one where you have to walk alone."

"But...aren't you alone?"

"That's not the point."

"Shouldn't you follow your own advice if you're giving it to someone else?"

"Well, it's not my fault  _she_  doesn't trust me and wants to stalk me instead!"

"...Come on, don't give me that look, back me up here." Terra sighed, then stood up. "You'll understand when you're older."

"I'm not the one who still has to grow up."

"Heh, you and Ventus are cut from the same cloth." He ruffled Roxas' hair much to his annoyance. "Regardless of what I choose to do, you need to go back to your friends, I have someone I need to find. You're better off going back the way you came."

"I can't or they'll find me! Let me come with you, at least for a little bit." His shoulders sank. "Please, I need to find her."

"Her?"

"Them! I, uh, I mean them! My friends, that's who I'm looking for."

"...fine."

"Wait, really?!"

He nodded. "But we go our separate ways once we reach the outer gardens."

—

"Ventus." Xion repeated, getting a feel for his name. That's when it dawned upon her how rude she was with someone who was by all accounts a stranger, so she bowed down apologetically and said in a remorseful tone, "I'm sorry I bothered you."

"Ah- you don't have to be so formal, I'm nobody important. You guys are looking for your friend, right? Then I'm on the same boat!"

"Something like that," Isa muttered. "I just don't know why you have such a punchable fa—"

"—He means that he doesn't know why you look identical to our friend Roxas!" Lea intruded. "You sure you don't know him?"

"No, sorry...but I wouldn't mind meeting him!"

"Well it does look like we're all going to the castle," Xion said. "We should team up to make things easier."

"Sure, why not? I'm going there to find my friend Terra, he's the coolest guy ever!"

"Can't say the same about Roxas," Isa remarked.

"But I'm sure he wouldn't mind you once he got to know ya," Lea said.

Isa rolled his eyes. "Or, knowing him, he'll try to kill you thinking you're one of those monsters, right Xion?"

"Maybe a little..." She admitted. "Roxas does have a habit of not thinking things through."

Ventus rubbed the back of his head. "Ok, now you guys got me kind of worried about meeting him."

"Don't worry, he's almost as unforgettable as yours truly! By the way, name's Lea, got it memorized?"

"It's better you forget him actually for the sake of your mental health. Oh, and I'm Isa." He ended his sentence with a smirk on his face.

Xion looked away from Ventus' face. "...I'm Xion."

"Call me Ven!" His face beamed with a welcoming smile across his face.

They continued down towards the castle, Xion kept to herself as the boys bounced off each other. To her, it was a natural reaction, after all, she still had mixed feelings on Roxas and having to look at that face of his, that face that told her so casually 'see you later' when he cast her aside. It was enough to set her over the edge, and that's not to mention she was busy wracking her brain over why of all the people he could look identical to, it  _had_  to be Roxas.

' _I don't understand, is he Roxas before he was turned into a nobody? No it can't be, he acts nothing like Roxas, then again Isa acts nothing like Saïx, but you can still see traces of Isa's personality within him.'_  Xion stared at the back of Ventus' head, studying the spiky, disheveled mess brushing just over his shoulders. _'They even have the same stupid hairstyle, how is that possible?! And is it just me, or do they have the same voice too?'_

Eventually, Ventus caught on to Xion and slowed down to her pace. Ashamed she was caught staring again, Xion gave her attention to the ground, which Ventus simply took as a sign of introversion. "I get the feeling you don't like me very much, huh," He said in an attempt to engage in light conversation.

"It's not you...w-well maybe it is, y-you look exactly like Roxas and..." She ran a hand through her hair, collecting herself.  _'Why am I acting like this, it's embarrassing. He's not actually Roxas, so there shouldn't be a problem.'_  "Sorry, it's weird, I'm just kind of mad at him right now. If I act a little different towards you, it's nothing personal."

Before he could open his mouth again, a group of unversed materialized, then surrounded the four of them. Or rather, the two of them, since Lea and Isa decided they'd be better off taking cover.

Xion wasted no time in running ahead and engaging the unversed, relieved she was spared from continuing her awkward conversation with Ventus. After defeating one of the erratic creatures with relative ease, she raised her keyblade to her next target, only to clash with Ventus' own keyblade.

Xion pulled her keyblade back. "What's your problem, Roxas...sorry, I mean Ventus!"

"Don't sweat it, guess we went for the same one!"

The unversed took their chance while the two of them were distracted to knock them backwards. Ventus almost immediately sprung back on his feet, while Xion used her keyblade as leverage.

"You alright, Xion?" Ventus asked.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." Xion pointed her keyblade at a cluster of unversed, enunciating a magnet spell that caused the unversed to bunch together into a magnetic vortex. Just as she was about to follow up with a thundara spell to clear them all out at once, Ventus saw it as an opportunity to strike them up close.

She lowered her keyblade and let out a shallow sigh. ' _That's right, I can't expect him to know what I'm thinking.'_

Once the magnet spell wore off, a few of the unversed still remained. Xion tried again to finish them off with a fire spell this time, but ended up burning Ventus' backside instead. "I-I'm so sorry Ventus!" She yelled out.

"It's okay, it's not a big deal!" Ventus' affinity with wind helped him put out the flames and he was relatively unscathed, save for a slightly charred uniform. He flashed a confident smile to reaffirm his sincerity to Xion, who managed a weak smile in return to hide her guilt.

Much to their surprise, the rest of the unversed dissipated into nothingness, their end marked by several arrow shards lying haphazardly on the ground. Xion picked up an arrow shard, knowing  _he_  wasn't far away.

"Don't take that as me helping you losers out or anything, just thought they'd get in the way." Sure enough, Braig was sitting high up on a building ledge with an insidious smirk that permeated his face. Xion struggled to suppress her own rage at his presence, and she owed it to the fact that Briag chose to keep himself at a distance this time around that she didn't immediately attack him.

Her hot temper was contrasted by Braig's cool demeanor, who merely saw the kids as nothing more than a nuisance he could toy around with. "Man, I knew I couldn't trust Vexen with holding you down, Roxas. Good thing you didn't get too far, I hate playing detective."

 _'He seems pretty serious, so at least that means Roxas escaped, but if he thinks Ventus is Roxas...'_ "We don't have Roxas either, so leave us alone!" Xion yelled.

Braig rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, I can see him right there! You think I was born yesterday?!"

 _'That was pretty silly of me to say that, so it doesn't look like we have a choice but to fight him.'_ "Well, you're not going to take any more of my friends away!"

"As if. Roxas left on his own, remember? Who's to say he won't abandon you again?"

"I came back, didn't I?!" Ventus shouted. "I will never leave her side! And if I'm not strong enough on my own, she'll make up the difference!"

Xion gazed at Ventus' face, his words stirred a reaction from deep within her and took captive the anger and doubt that lived inside whatever beat inside of her. His words were what Xion always wanted to hear from  _him_ , and through Ventus she was able to resonate the person she wanted to see the most.

' _You didn't have to say that, Ven.'_

She simply smiled at Ven, her first genuine smile towards him, which she found to carry deeper meaning than any half-assed attempt to put her thoughts into functioning words.

Spurred by the moment, Lea ran over Ventus and Xion's side in order to put in his own two cents. "Yeah, you won't be taking Roxas over our dead bodies! Get that memorized!"

"Lea, get back here! And don't include me too!" Isa hissed, still behind cover.

"What, I was just trying to make it sound more dramatic."

"Let's not put ideas in his head, okay," Ventus said.

"Nah, that's a great idea. Consider it done." Braig aimed his arrowguns at the sky and fired his arrows into the heavens. Before the arrows could dive back down onto the earth, Ventus jumped over to Braig and swung his keyblade at him.

Braig held the blade down with his hand in an effortless motion, anticipating how Ventus would react. He was just as quick to catch Xion's blade when she subsequently went in for an attack.

"You're too slow," Braig said.

"That's what I was hoping you would do!" With the point of her keyblade clenched in his hand, she was able to land a direct shot for her stop spell.

She pulled her keyblade away from his hand, then rose it again with the intent of a second strike. "You're not getting away from me this time!"

Xion and Ventus struck Braig in the chest with their keyblades and when the time spell wore off, he shot straight through the window of the building behind them.

"So...you think we defeated him?" Ventus asked after a few moments of silence.

"No," Xion said. "I need to see his face."

She was prepared to jump through the window after Braig, but Ventus quickly grabbed her by the arm. "What're you doing?!" She asked.

"He's obviously trying to lure you out. Let's stick together so we have a better chance of beating him!"

Xion let her hand slip away from his grasp. "I almost forgot...we're a team now!"

He nodded. "That's right, let's regroup for now."

Before they could descend from the building ledge, Braig burst out of the shattered window and snatched Ventus' head with his hand. He landed back on the ground, then held him up high enough so his feet dangled in the air.

"Sorry it has to be like this, but I can't let you keep slipping away from my fingers," Briag said in a low voice. Under his feet, a dark portal bubbled to the surface. "Don't worry, I'll come back, whenever my boss needs—" Something hit him in the back of his head, causing him to pause. The culprit was a plastic frisbee, settling onto the ground beside his foot.

Braig clocked his head around to Lea, petrified by fear as even he was surprised by his own actions. "Good to see you're not all talk," Was all he said before crushing the frisbee. "Too bad it's not an actual weapon or you might've had a shot, kid."

"Axel!" His momentary distraction allowed Xion enough time to catch up to Braig with her keyblade reeled back for another attack, but as she was about to reach him, a sphere of light blazed past her and enveloped Braig in a powerful, white light.

"Banish!" A voice yelled out.

The light amplified and blanketed the entire area, when it faded away, Braig was collapsed on the ground while Ventus was the one back on his feet.

"Thank goodness," Xion said, stopping to catch her breath. "I'm glad you're okay, Lea really came through."

"Yeah, thanks Lea, you're the best," Ventus said.

"Huh...oh I didn't really know what I was doing. I just kind of..." He trailed off when he saw Isa stomp over to him, seething with anger.

Lea smiled sheepishly at him. "What's up...Isa..."

"You're lucky that guy didn't hurt you or I would've killed you!" Isa grabbed Lea by the collar, then vigorously shook him back and forth until Lea's brain was practically seeping out of his ears. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

 _'I've never Isa get so emotional, it's kind of endearing actually, in a scary way.'_ "Oh Ven, where do you think that light spell came from anyways. It was pretty powerful."

Ventus' cheerful facial expression darkened. "Y-You mean that wasn't you? Then, we need to get out of here!"

"What, why?"

"—Ventus!"

"That's why..."

A young woman with deep, blue hair approached Ventus, she wore a similar uniform to him and wielded a keyblade just like he did from the looks of the sleek, metallic key clenched in her hand. She didn't waste her breath on a casual greeting and instead pulled Ventus by the ear as her way of expressing her frustrations. "This is why I told you to go home, Ventus!"

"Ow, ow, ow!"

Lea and Isa started snickering, while Xion looked on with sympathy.

"Cut it out Aqua, I told you I wasn't going home until I found Terra!"

"You almost got yourself killed by some creep and you're still worried about finding Terra?!"

"I'll be fine Aqua! Besides, my new friends are gonna help me out!"

Aqua took a moment to scrutinize Xion, Lea, and Isa, who turned away awkwardly to avoid her gaze. She turned back to Ventus, a look of despondence soon spread across her face that he'd grown accustomed to. "Ven, I'm sorry, but school kids won't be much help, you shouldn't be getting them wrapped up into this," She again looked back to the others, "And you kids need to go back to school, it's too dangerous to be out here in the open."

"We're not just school kids!" Lea argued.

' _I'm not a school kid at all.'_ Though slightly annoyed she had to be grouped with them, Xion acted favorably towards Aqua. "Let me explain, I'm Xion and those two are Lea and Isa, the four of us all happened to be going the same destination so I decided we should team up. The boys are fine with me, and Ven can wield the keyblade very well, but I'll make it my responsibility to take it care of them."

"You make it sound like we're kids," Isa said. "We can handle ourselves fine, Xion."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure  _Lea_  can, but you on the other hand..."

"Right, last time I checked you were still taking cover while I was risking my life," Lea said.

Isa crossed his arms, and turned the other way, annoyed, "Whatever, it looked like you guys had things handled," He huffed out.

"Excuse me for asking, but are you a keyblade wielder too?" Aqua asked, facing Xion.

"I am." She summoned her keyblade to prove to Aqua her prowess.

"So you are. Then please forgive me, I didn't know there were any other keyblades wielders outside of our own world. Thank you for taking care of Ven, I'm sure you're skilled with the keyblade."

A light blush flushed in her cheeks. "Y-You think so? I do try to practice in my spare time..."

"That's something you should start doing more of, Ven," Aqua said with sharpness in her voice. "And you can do plenty of that at home."

"Hey! I'm pretty good with the keyblade and I only got better 'cause I didn't have to be stuck at home waiting for you and Terra to come back. And you know, seeing all these worlds, and meeting new people has been really fun, I don't want to go back, not now. I still want to see what else there is out there...and I will find Terra!"

Aqua fixated on Ventus. "Ven, look, I know how much you admire Terra and want to be by his side, but you're better off leaving. There's something horrible about this world and I don't want you getting caught up in it. I'll find Terra."

"Why? Don't you trust me, Aqua? I thought we were friends!"

"We  _are_  friends!"

"Then why won't you trust me?!"

"This isn't about me trusting you, it's about me protecting you!"

"From what? You already defeated that castle guard guy, no...you...you just think Terra will hurt me, don't you?! You're scared he'll do something to me. Well, I'll prove he's good, I promised to always have his back and you're not gonna stop me!"

Ventus pushed Aqua away from him, then scaled the rooftops where he continued down towards the castle. "There he goes again," Aqua muttered under her breath. "He thinks he's so tough, a mindset like that will get you nowhere."

She faced Xion and the others. "Sorry, I must of come off as rude to the rest of you. My name is Aqua, although I'm sure you gathered that by now."

"So are you supposed to be his mom or whatever?" Isa asked.

"His what?! No, no! I'm just his friend...well I guess Ven probably does see more that way." For a moment, just for a moment, she let down her unwavering composure and allowed herself to indulge in her insecurities. "Lately, the three of us have been drifting apart, and I get the feeling that I'm the reason why."

"I wouldn't be too hard on yourself," Xion reassured. "He's just the type to run off without thinking, so we have to be the type to bring them back."

"...You're right, Ven's in for an earful when I find him again."

"Well while you guys work that out, I have to go," Isa abruptly announced.

"Where do you have to go that's more important than this?" Lea asked.

"It's not because I don't want to be here, it's just..." He was reluctant to speak any further.

"Just what?" Lea pressed on, unwilling to drop the subject.

Isa replied with a low, incomprehensible mumble.

"Huh? Didn't catch that."

"I  _said_...my mom's forcing to go to cram school, so I have to leave now or she'll kill me."

"Oh right, forgot you were annoyingly smart. Whatever, see you tomorrow."

"Right, see ya."

"Isa..." Xion said. "Be careful out there."

"Yeah I know. Later."

After Isa departed from the group, the three of them started back down towards the castle. Since it was the crowning landmark of Radiant Garden, the castle was a massive fortress that ran on complex, intricate mechanics, shaping the infrastructure of the building. A towering door served as the entrance where two sentry guards stood by, Aqua approached them while Xion and Lea decided to stay behind.

Xion studied the sentry guards. _'It's Xaldin and Lexaeus. They don't look much different though, guess they were already old in the future.'_

"How do you think Ventus got inside the castle?" Lea asked.

"He likely just snuck past them."

It only took a few short exchanges of back and forth until Aqua raised her keyblade in exasperation and simply used a stop spell on them, then waved for Xion and Lea to follow.

Lea had a wide grin on his face, pumped by a rush of excitement. "Mission to rescue Roxas initiated! Let's go team!"

"Uh...wow, that sounded really lame coming from you." Xion bluntly stated.

"What?! I was just getting us ready for the mission!"

"Let's leave the catchphrases behind for now, until you're good at making them."

Aqua, Lea and Xion stormed inside the entrance hall of the castle, they heard a skittish voice echoing down the chambers and took cover behind one of the tall columns supporting the curvature of the ceiling.

The voice belonged to Even, who was clutching a stack of papers in his arms as he rushed down the hall. Meanwhile, Ienzo followed behind, picking up the discarded papers that flew off the stack.

"Make haste Ienzo, my subject went towards the outer gardens! One more sample and I'll be on the verge of a breakthrough!"

"I have a feeling he's talking about Ven," Aqua said. "He must not be too far, let's follow them."

Their pursuit of Even and Ienzo led them down a flight of stairs into the basement of the castle. It having such a desolate, hollow, and foreboding atmosphere made perfect stomping grounds for the unversed to lurk within the endless shadows, so it wasn't long before they stood in their way to the outer gardens.

"What are these dreadful things?" Even asked, teetering on the edge of fear and intrigue. "Might they be monsters the town's been raving about? Ienzo, why don't you go study them."

"What?! Why don't you go study it, you're the scientist!"

"And a great scientist always leaves the dirty work to his assistant!"

"You mean a terrible scientist."

"—Watch out!" An icy blast cut between Even and Ienzo, then froze the unversed to the ground.

Aqua ran ahead and sliced the unversed clean in half.

"And who are you?" Even demanded, dismissive of the fact she saved his life.

"That's not important, get out of here before more show up!"

"How insolent of a stranger like you to demand something of the head scientist of Master Ansem' castle!"

Much to his surprise, Aqua humbly bowed down in apology. "...I am deeply sorry for the intrusion, I'm simply looking for a friend who passed by here. So you'll have to excuse me for trespassing, but this is no place for civilians."

"Hmph, I suppose if I die here I wouldn't be able to continue my studies. I'll return with the guards if that's the case. Come Ienzo."

Xion waited until they were gone, before turning back to Aqua, "I can't believe you said all of that, I thought you were gonna use magic on him like the other guys."

"Yeah, didn't stop you before," Lea said.

"That's exactly why I didn't. I felt irresponsible for using magic on those sentry guards and I didn't want to set a bad example for you kids so I said what he wanted to hear." ' _That and I don't have enough magic to waste on them anyway.'_

"Sure, whatever you say, Aqua."

"You don't have to sound so disappointed in me, I'll make it up to you after we find our friends."

The rest of the way to the outer gardens went by smoothly with Aqua leading. They soon came across a vast opening outside the castle walls where hundreds of colorful flowers lined the flat stone pathway. Enclosing the perimeter was a spectacular display of fountains and in the middle of the outer gardens was the entrance to the purification facility where Terra stood with Roxas by his side.

Aqua chose to stay behind, still not on speaking terms with Terra, while Ventus was already well on his way to see him. Xion, meanwhile, ran past Ventus to get to Roxas. When she finally approached him, she couldn't decide whether or not to slap him, whether or not to even look him in the eye, but before she got the chance to decide, Roxas pulled Xion close and embraced her.

"I'm so sorry." He dug his head into her shoulders, grasping her tightly as if she would slip away if he ever let her go. "I didn't mean to hurt you like that, I just wanted to protect you."

Xion pushed away from him. "Roxas...you're such an idiot. If I'm supposed to be your partner, then let me fight for you! If I'm supposed to be your friend, then let me be there for you!" The tears she fought so hard to push back were now streaming down her face and dropping onto the pavement. "I don't care if I get hurt, I don't care if I get sad! If we can't shoulder each other's pain, then what good are we?"

Her voice grew soft, fragile, as if she could't hold the weight of her words, "...What good am I, Roxas? Just another puppet, right?"

He opened his mouth to say something, but ultimately decided not to say anything just yet, fearing his words wouldn't be enough to encapsulate his feelings. Instead, he summoned his own keyblade and pressed it into her hands. "You're pretty amazing, Xion. Remember when I helped you get your keyblade back all those days ago? Now you're running circles around me...I guess I'm the one who needs to catch up." He smiled at her in that stupid way she always hated, but found it to be the most endearing feature about him.

"Let's just both do what we can for each other and I won't ever push you away. I promise."

Her eyes lingered on his, her mind racing around him. She wanted to say something, anything, but couldn't for some indescribable feeling.

' _I must've embarrassed her 'cause her face is really red. Wonder what I said?'_

"I hate to break up you're little confessions to each other, but are you going to explain why there's two of you?" Terra asked.

"There's two of us?"

Maybe it was coincidental, or even fate that the two would meet, but when Roxas saw him, he knew it wasn't a mistake. Ventus was identical to him in every way; the same round face, the same blonde windswept hair that was impossible to manage, the same deep blue eyes someone could get lost in. It was too much for Roxas to take in all at once, causing him to jump away from him and shout, "Who are you?!"

"Oh no, we're not about to go through  _this_  again." Xion pulled Roxas back towards Ventus. "Roxas, this is Ventus. Ventus, Roxas. He's not a heartless, he just happens to look and sound exactly like you."

Ventus was the first to offer his hand. "I know it's weird and I'm not entirely on board with it either, but let's go along with it for now."

Roxas took his hand and shook it. "Yeah, sure...my bad, for almost killing you and everything."

"Eh, kind of expected it. Xion told me."

"Ah.. did she tell you anything else?"

"Roxas, I'm right here!" Xion cut in.

"Never mind, we'll talk later," Roxas said.

Ventus grinned at Roxas, however, his smile wouldn't last long as his face became devoid of any expression and life. He staggered forward, on the verge of collapsing on the ground, but Roxas caught him in his arms. His eyes widened in horror, he could feel the arrow shards sticking out of his chest and Ventus' body becoming heavier and heavier with each passing breath.

"We'll talk later...right?"


	4. 68:13:07

 

"—Don't worry, I didn't shoot to kill. Couldn't figure out which one was which, so I went for the easy shot."

Terra spun his head around to locate the voice and found Braig positioned on a high platform. All it took was for Terra to set his eyes on him, before he became completely submerged in darkness. Sweeping his keyblade to his side, dark spheres surged from the tip of his blade, and targeted Braig who simply dropped off the platform to evade the attack.

The moment Braig was on ground level, Terra shot like a bolt of lightning towards him and snatched up by his red scarf. There was a subtle weakness within Terra that Braig picked up on, his grip wasn't as tight, his stance wasn't as firm. Even someone like Terra faltered under subjugation to the darkness, a weakness Braig had every intention to exploit if he wanted to escape his clutches without getting his head smashed in, "Ah- so this is what Xehanort meant by awakening your inner darkness, talk about killing two birds with one stone."

"I don't care about that, you're going to pay for what you did to Ventus!" He raised Braig high into the air with the intent to slam him on the ground, but Braig managed to escape from his grasp and gather some distance from his adversary.

With a confident smirk returning to him, Braig opened heavy fire on Terra, his arrogance leading him to act carelessly. However, it soon became clear Braig was no match against Terra's darkness, he moved with unwavering power when he swung his keyblade down on Braig. Unable to hold his position under Terra, he leapt backwards, and Terra took the chance to shoot another round of dark spheres. This time around, one of them struck Braig in his right eye.

For a split second, Braig stood still, dazed, while the darkness devoured his eye from the inside out. He was more shocked by the fact he was badly wounded from someone like  _him_ , someone he could crush any other day, than from his eyesight rapidly deteriorating. When Terra raised his keyblade again, he snapped into place, fear rising within him. Though, despite his circumstances, he could still find it in himself to humor the situation.

_'Guess that's what I get it for bringing a knife to a gunfight, I did my job at least.'_

Before Terra could finish him off, Braig jumped away and if not for the call of Aqua, he would have chased him down to the ends of the earth. Fortunately, the darkness that fed into his rage could only be matched by his desire to protect Ventus. So he returned to his side and looked on sadly as Aqua was in the middle of applying as many cure spells and potions as she could after removing the arrows.

"Do you need any help? Here maybe I can-"

Aqua pushed his hand away. "You've done enough, Terra." She scooped up Ventus in her arms. "I'm worried something else might have happened to him so I'm taking him to someone who will help."

The trip back to town felt longer as they struggled to keep their spirits high. Eventually, Aqua stopped at a plain looking house in the residential district, she knocked on the door and was greeted by an old man in blue garments named Merlin. He took them in without question and laid Ventus' limp body in his own bed. After 15 minutes that seemed to drag on for hours, Merlin finished his inspection.

"Yes, his body appears to be in a state of shock and it'll take a few days to recover. Whoever his attacker was, took a great deal not to strike young Ventus in any areas that would do him in." He reached for one of the books on his shelf, then dusted it off.

The book Merlin was holding turned itself to the right page and he read down one of the entries. "But your friend is very peculiar indeed. As you know, we all have light and darkness within us except for a select few, however his darkness seems to have been separated from him entirely."

"Why would anyone do that?" Aqua asked.

"Because the darkness in Ven's heart was threatening to consume him," Terra said.

"...How do you know?"

"Master Xehanort told me, he was the one who extracted the darkness from him in the first place. And his darkness became Vanitas who uses the unversed to destroy the world of light."

"So you just decided not to tell me? Is that what I mean to you, Terra..." Aqua couldn't stand to look Terra in the face any longer as she would only get a sense of immeasurable sadness that sunk into the cracks of her heart. So she drew her eyes to the ground, finding it more suitable company than who sat across from her.

"I'm sorry, I should've told you sooner. I thought I could handle it myself and I didn't want to put another burden on you like that."

She raised her head. "Who cares about me?! The master sent me here to protect Ven and keep  _you_  away from the darkness, but...I've failed both of you."

"Even if I did use the darkness, that doesn't change anything. I care about Ven just as much as you and I will always fight for the light!"

"I know...I know that's what you want to believe, but you would've never let yourself get consumed by the darkness if that were true. The master would be disappointed in you."

"You already are." Terra stood up from the kitchen table which caused the silverware and teacups to shake. "I'll hunt down Vanitas for Ven and I'll do it no matter where it'll lead me. The darkness doesn't scare me."

The door slammed shut behind Terra, while Aqua shook her head in dismay. ' _I have a feeling Master Xehanort isn't who he say he is and is manipulating Terra. But if I go after him, Terra will only have more reason to push me away. Don't you understand, I care about you, you and Ven are everything, that's why...'_

Silence soon took its place within the house and Roxas, Xion and Lea were left sitting uncomfortably at the kitchen table following Aqua and Terra's argument. "...Are you okay?" Xion finally asked in an attempt to alleviate the mood.

Aqua's response was delayed, and she was only able to produce a low mumble at first, before picking herself back up into her usual polite demeanor, "...I'm so sorry you three had to be wrapped up in this. You don't deserve to have your normal lives ruined because of us."

"Nah, it's fine, I'm kind of used to it by now. Besides, this beats being bored out of mind at school," Lea said.

"Yeah, I mean it is my fault Braig shot him in the first place..." He lowered his head. "He was looking for me, but he mixed us up, I should be the one in that bed."

"Don't say that, the one to blame for any of this is Braig." She made an effort to smile for Roxas' sake. "Even though I doubt he'll bother us again, if he or Vanitas, or anyone comes after you, send them over here and I'll deal with them, okay?"

"You give Roxas too much credit," Xion said. "Once he has a grudge on someone, he doesn't let it go."

"Well I guess that can't be helped. You're right, he really is the type to run off without thinking," Aqua said.

"Wait- were you guys talking about me?!" Roxas exclaimed.

Xion stuck her tongue out. "Maybe, but I won't tell~"

Roxas grabbed Lea's shoulders. "Wh-what did she say about me?!"

"Oh you know, the usual, that I was  _way_  stronger and hotter than you," He casually said.

"Really..."

Xion crossed her arms. "Uh, that's not what I said at all!"

"-That's right, I'm obviously way more strong than Lea, but you could've said that to my face!"

"I didn't say that either! You two are seriously a handful."

Merlin moved from his bed to the kitchen, deciding to prepare more tea for his guests. "-Excuse but Roxas, was it? You are related to young Ventus, no?"

"There's no relation," Roxas said. "We just happen to look exactly alike."

"Is that so? Then allow me to have a quick word with the two of you. It'll only take a moment."

"Uh sure."

They followed Merlin up a spiral staircase into his study; a surprisingly large, and spacious room that was cluttered with books of all kinds that stacked up to the ceiling. Merlin eased himself into a chair, then asked, "If you don't mind me asking, are you perhaps from a different world?"

"Yeah we're from Twilight Town, but we were separated from our world. Maybe..." He was hesitant to continue, but did so anyway, "Maybe you can help us find our way back home."

"Oh- well a simple teleport spell should be able to fix your problem, at least partially fix it."

"No, that wouldn't work. What if we also ... were from a different time. Not saying we are, but what if that was us, how could we go back home then?"

Merlin nearly burst out of his seat from excitement. "How intriguing! I knew this wasn't mere confidence! Please, you must tell me how such a predicament occurred to you!"

"Wait, wait, now this is all just conjunction, asking for a friend type deal you know?"

"You mean 'conjecture'?"

"Yeah, whatever. Will you help us or not?"

"-Roxas!" Xion elbowed him in the stomach. "We're not going to get any help like that!"

"Ho ho, it's quite fine. This problem of your 'friend' certainly alludes me. You must tell me how such a thing happened?"

"They were attacked by some monster and now they're here."

"Hm, that's not what I was expecting, but undoubtedly, that monster placed some type of spell on you, er 'them'. I'll go through my books to see if I can find anything on a spell that rewinds time if you may, if not, then it might simply be a matter of waiting until it's lifted. Some spells are so powerful, they can never be undone until it loses its effect." He rummaged through a pile of papers on his desk and found a stick.

"That's a stick," Xion pointed out.

"No, no my dear. It's a wand!" He tapped it on the air and an ancient scroll, barely held together by its own parchment, appeared in his hand. "This is an old spell called 'Libra' it has the ability to expose any weaknesses of whom it is cast on, I believe. It'll perhaps help you in discovering what spell has been cast on your company."

"Really? How do you use it?"

"Well you...see it's like no, actually that's quite a good question!" He handed the scroll to Xion. "I'm sure you'll figure it out long before I can."

They went back down the stairs, Lea perked his head up at their arrival. "I was wondering when you guys would come back. Listen, I know this isn't the best timing, but I just remembered I have work today, but you guys should totally come along! I can sneak you two some free food."

"That sounds like a good idea, wandering out in the open is just asking for trouble," Xion said.

The three of them left Merlin's house and went down to wherever Lea was taking them. Based on the overpopulation of students in the streets, school was out for the day and they received no shortage of strange looks, glares, and the occasional whisper from their fellow classmates.

"Guess we're pretty famous, huh," Roxas said to Xion.

"No I don't think that's it."

Eventually they stopped at a restaurant-bar called '7th Heaven'. Once inside they were greeted by a girl with long brown hair, though she dropped her overly-friendly facade when she saw Lea, "Oh it's only you..."

"Good to see you too, Tifa." Lea returned, visibly annoyed.

"I was hoping your other friend would come, Isa right?"

"Not today. And if you're getting any ideas, he's already into some other girl. Sorry."

"Don't have an attitude, you're the one who came in super late."

"'Super late'? When did my shift start?"

"An hour ago, but the boss said whenever you came in you were just gonna serve."

"What are you serious? It's gonna be a long night."

"You like talking so much, it shouldn't be..." She trailed off when she noticed Roxas. "Who's this?"

"That's Roxas and she's Xion, they're from a world called Twilight Town."

"Oh really?" Tifa approached Roxas, an insatiable look dominating her once reserved expression. Though she limited herself to a small smile, and modest advancements, "You're pretty cute," She began.

"Uh, thanks."

"You look like this guy I used to know...maybe it's the eyes, they're so blue." She clasped her hands over his. "My name is Tifa Lockhart, it's nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too..." Roxas proceeded awkwardly, he looked at Xion for help, but she was too irritated to make any eye contact.

Luckily, Tifa picked up on Xion's discomfort and decided to inch away from Roxas. She turned to Xion apologetically, offering a ceasefire between the two warring parties, "I'm sorry, you must be his girlfriend, right? That was rude of me."

She blinked, not understanding what Tifa was saying or why she was talking to her at all for that matter, but she quickly re-adjusted herself, "No-no, you didn't do anything wrong, my mind's on other things. I don't really know what a 'girlfriend' is, but I am his best friend!"

"I get it, so he's single?"

"Actually he's my partner."

"Okay now I'm getting confused. I just wanna know if he's off limits or not."

Lea pulled Tifa aside. "Listen, Roxas and Xion are kind of..." He took a moment to search for the right word, "...innocent. They don't know anything about love or relationships, they're like little kids, but once you get to know them, it becomes pretty obvious they like each other."

"That's...different. Maybe things are different in Twilight Town."

"Nah, that honor goes to them."

"Well, look like they have a lot of catching up to do, but it's nothing we can't fix!" Tifa spun around to Roxas and Xion, then grabbed two menus from the counter. "Table for two, follow me, please."

Tifa showed them to their best, 'most romantic' table (as she put it), which consisted of a dingy booth that hugged a wall with a cracked window. Although, admittedly, it was on the opposite end of the bar so they could hear other talk. Tifa happily took out a pad and paper once they were seated and started with the usual restaurant formalities, "Lea's gonna be wrapped up for a while, so I'll be taking his place for the time being. Can I get you started with anything to drink?"

"I'm not really thirsty," Roxas said.

"Yeah me neither," Xion said.

"Really? Don't tell me you're not hungry either..."

"I don't think we need to eat, it's not like we're people," Roxas said.

"But we  _never_  had anything that wasn't sea-salt ice cream. It wouldn't hurt to try something new," Xion said.

"You guys are kind of freaking me out here, why don't I just give you our most popular item and call it a day."

"Sure, sounds good!"

Tifa took their menus and disappeared into the kitchen. Now that they were left alone, Xion took out the Libra scroll and spread it across the table. Much to her surprise, it was completely blank. "What is this?!" She flipped it back and forth, nothing, not even faint traces of words or diagrams, as if there was never anything meant to be put onto the scroll.

"That's a problem," Roxas said. "Maybe Merlin gave us the wrong spell or something."

"I don't think so, it was probably left blank for a reason. Maybe it's a puzzle?"

"Sure you're not overthinking it? We don't know Merlin and he couldn't even tell us how the spell worked."

"Well this is literally our only chance of finding out how we can get home. We've caused enough problems for everyone here, the sooner we leave the better."

"You...really want to go home."

"Of course, don't you?"

"I guess, but it's nice not having to put up with the organization. And it's nice I get to see you more since you were avoiding me and Axel before."

"Was that before or after I fell asleep for 17 days?"

That got a smile out of him. "Before."

"Well I...I wasn't avoiding you two, I was trying to find a purpose, but you know, apart of me really wanted you and Axel to..." She stopped herself. "Never mind, you're right, we  _are_  together now and this might be the last chance we'll have where everything stays just like this."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing...I'm thinking ahead of myself. Still, this isn't something we should ignore and it's not like we have to go back immediately."

"You say that like you know how the spell works," He lifted the scroll from the table, then held it up to the light. "Ah- this scroll's kind of see through!"

"Great observation."

Ignoring her remark, he put the scroll back on the table and began folding it to make a paper airplane. "Ta-dah!"

"Take this seriously."

He unfolded the scroll, then held it out in front of him and suddenly a light circled around Xion.

"Wh-what's going on?!" She said.

One after another, words appeared on the scroll, and soon there was an entire profile on Xion, complete with a few helpful diagrams. "Huh, guess that's all it took."

"So what does it say?"

"It says...your name is Xion, you're 5' 1", 100 lbs, 210 days old...oh and your bust/waist/hip measurements are—"

"Roxas! Don't look at that!" She shrieked.

"Okay, okay!" He skimmed down several sections. "Here we go, your stats. It says you're lacking in physical defense, but you exceed in magic and speed. You tend to wait before striking and take a more defensive approach since you don't have a lot of confidence in your own abilities and are afraid of feeling inferior to other people so you hide your own—"

She snatched the scroll from his hand, her face burning bright red. "Ugh! You're so dense, Roxas. I'll just read in myself...let's see...it does say I'm inflicted with a negative status effect and there's a scar on my back?"

"You think it's from that heartless?"

"Probably, I'll check you next to make sure." She scanned him. "It says you have a negative status effect too, and there's a scar on your chest."

"Really? Let's see what it looks like." He took off his jacket, then unbuttoned his school uniform. Inscribed across his bare chest was the numbers '68:13:07' that counted down like a timer.

"Wow! Looks like this date is going a lot better than expected," Tifa said.

Lea stood next to her holding a tray of food and drinks. "Yeah, try to keep it a little decent you two."

While Roxas was drowning in embarrassment, Xion merely averted her eyes away and acted like she didn't know him.

Lea went ahead and passed out a plate of hamburger, fries and to finish it off; a milkshake for dessert. Tifa winked at them before turning to leave, while Lea stayed behind.

"Don't worry about the munny, it's on the house. And I got you guys covered if you need somewhere to sleep for the night."

"That's right, I almost forgot, hopefully this motel is better than the last," Roxas said.

"Actually, I'm closing for tonight, so there's no time for that. I thought you guys could maybe..." Lea rubbed the back of his head. "Stay at my place for the night? I cleaned up a bit and it's on the outskirts of town so no one should bother us."

"Sure we won't be too much of a bother?" Xion asked.

"...No it's fine, really. But, but- if you're gonna live with me don't do anything icky!"

"Icky?! Roxas is the one who doesn't pick up after himself."

"What? Do not! Some friend you are."

"Heh heh, well while you guys get that worked out, I'm gonna get back to work. You'll know where to find me." He went to attend to his other tables.

"Lea is so nice, we should really do something for him," Xion said.

"We can start by eating this food he gave us, but, I don't even know what this stuff is. Looks kind of weird."

"But it smells pretty good!" Xion decided to try one of the fries, not really expecting much, "Oh my gosh! This is sooooo good!" She started shoving handfuls of the crispy fries into her mouth. The taste was unlike anything she ever tried before, which wasn't much considering she only ate sea salt ice cream or the occasional bitter tasting potion and ethers.

"Is it that good?" Roxas tasted one of the fries, then fell in love.

It wasn't long before the plate of steamy hamburgers and greasy fries became something to reminisce on and Roxas and Xion were passed out on the booth seats, groaning in agony. When Lea returned to their table to check up on them, he couldn't help but crack a small smile. "So even monster slayers have weaknesses? I'll get you guys some Esuna medicine and then we'll go home."

A few Esunas and a long explanation later, Roxas, Xion and Lea were on their way to the apartment complex via cab. By the time they reached their destination, it was already the dead of night and the moon hung high in the sky, partially obscured by dark clouds. There was something about tonight, something that lingered after Roxas and Xion, tracing their every movement, breathing over their necks as they made their way up the flight of metal steps leading to the apartment door. It was fortunately a short trip, and the eerie feeling soon subsided when Lea closed the door behind them, but only for the fact a new feeling replaced it instead; emptiness.

They were the only ones enclosed within those four walls, though it shouldn't of came by surprise, Lea's apartment was designed for one person and lived in by one person.

Lea set his keys on the counter, then turned back to Roxas and Xion, "I'll get the blankets out, but you guys feel free make yourselves at home, I got a TV and video games over there." He made a vague gesture to a small corner of the room where the couch was.

Discarding their shoes at the door, they walked across the wooden floorboards and sat down on the couch. "This kind of reminds me of the castle," Xion said.

"What gave you that idea? This is nothing like the castle."

"I said 'kind of', I don't know, it just gives you the same oppressive feeling."

"Xion, I don't even know what that word means."

Lea dropped a bundle of pillows and blankets in between them, then dropped himself on the couch. "What're you guys talking about now?"

"Nothing really," Xion said. "But, uh, I forgot to say before, thanks for having us here. We'll have to repay you sometime!"

"No, it's you guys I should be thanking, 'cause...I finally found someone like me. All you two have is yourselves to count on, and no one else."

"That's not true, we also have you Lea to count on," Roxas said. "Friends like us stick together, we're inseparable."

"Hey, Lea are you okay?" Xion asked. "You're crying."

"I am? I did't even realize..."

"Good going, Roxas."

"Wh-what?! I was just listening to what you said about being nice."

"This wasn't what I had in mind for being nice!"

Lea rubbed his eyes, trying to calm himself down, "Sorry, I-I think something's in my eye." He ran into the bathroom, leaving Roxas and Xion to gawk at each other.

"What was that about, I've never seen him cry before," Roxas said.

"I don't know, but something tells me you made him happy!"

"So why'd you act like it was a bad thing?!"

"I was just giving you a hard time, friends do that too."

"Tell me about it. So we got any plans for tomorrow?"

"Those numbers on your chest, the first number was 68 as in 68 hours, which means..." She took a moment to count on her fingers. "That's a little less than 3 days until, I'm guessing, when the spell wears out."

"Aw really? Hoping it would've been longer, well we'll still have to watch out for Braig and Vanitas, but in the meantime, we should probably get our cloaks if the school hasn't trashed it already."

"Right, that's a problem. Not being able to use the darkness has been a pain."

"Yeah..."

They ran out of things to talk about and sat around in silence for a little while.

"Is it just me or is Lea taking a long time in the bathroom? We should go check up on him," Xion said.

When they walked up to the door, they saw a dark red substance seeping out. Alarmed, Roxas kicked open the door and found Lea lying on the tile floor surrounded by a swarm of unversed. He dragged him out of the bathroom, rolling him onto his back while Xion stomped the unversed out of existence.

"Lea...Lea?! He's not waking up, Xion!" Roxas cried.

Even all the cure spells and potions Xion used wouldn't stir his body

"Xion, what do we do?!"

She looked away from Roxas.

"Tell me we can save him Xion! Please, just tell me what to do and I'll do whatever it takes!"

More unversed appeared within the apartment.

"Xion..."

Xion raised her head and he could see the washed out, desolate expression that consumed her once vivid eyes. She moved her mouth, but nothing came out. Her entire body, along with the approaching unversed stopped moving. The entire apartment was frozen in time.

Then their world as they knew it faded to black...

—

68:13:07

"Wow! Looks like this date is going a lot better than expected," Tifa said.

Lea stood next to her holding a tray of food and drinks. "Yeah, try to keep it a little decent you two."

Xion got up from the booth and walked out of the restaurant. She sat down on the ground, held her knees close to her chest, then stared out into the distant night.

' _At least in Twilight Town, the sun never set.'_

Of course, Roxas was never far from and he sat down beside her with that sickening look of worry spread across his face. "...we've really ruined everyone's lives, huh?"

"...That's not what I was expecting from you."

"Hm?"

"I was expecting you to say some hokey speech about how we should just 'keep moving on' and 'try again harder next time'."

"I told you I would be honest with you from now on, besides, I knew that wouldn't make you feel any better."

"What did you think would?"

He shrugged. "I'm not so sure anymore, but at least now we can fix our mistake. A future without Axel isn't one we can ever return to."

"Then we're better off leaving Lea. Those heartless are  _only_  after us because we wield the keyblade. If we're not strong enough to protect him, then we have no right even being around him."

"Xion...how could you say something like that?"

"He's not even our Axel, it won't matter. We'll be gone in a few days anyways."

"But Lea  _is_  Axel and if we can't be there for each other as friends, then what good are we? You're the one who told me that Xion, we can't turn our backs on him no matter what."

She gave him a weak smile. "That's what I was expecting from you."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing, sorry. I think I just need time to clear my head." She stood up. "I'm going for a walk."

"Alone?"

Xion nodded. "I won't be gone long." She disappeared into the night, swallowed by shadows cast from the tall buildings.  _'I shouldn't of said all those stupid things to Roxas. I can't believe I was naive enough to actually think I was anything more than a nobody.'_

The moonlight consumed the shadows as Xion reached the plaza and the streets were bathed in a pale blue light. In the distance, Xion could hear a faint sound of screams barely audible over the melodies of the night. She wished she hadn't been so naturally curious, otherwise she would've steered clear from such obvious danger, but there she was, sneaking down an obscure road just to satisfy her curiosity.

Not long after, Xion found Isa, battered and bloody, in the middle of a fight against the unversed. With the memories of her past encounter still fresh in her mind, Xion brutally cut the vile creatures, not holding herself back in her typical prudent manner.

She tapped off the excess residue from her keyblade, then turned to Isa, "I-I wasn't stalking you, if that's what you were thinking!"

"That...wasn't what was thinking about," Isa said. "But I'm glad you came when you did, I wasn't expecting to be attacked those monsters."

"Oh yeah, no problem. Here, I can fix up your wounds, you're kind of bleeding all over the place."

"-No, I'll be fine, I don't need your help."

"Uh, okay. Sorry." She grew quiet.

"Don't take it personally, I pretty much had things handled before you came."

Isa slung his backpack over his shoulders and thought about leaving right then and there. After all, it was late into the night and he was expected to be home at least an hour ago, but that thought soon passed, not when Xion looked like he just drowned her goldfish. He let out a deep sigh, then rubbed the back of his head, "Listen, I'm bad at this type of stuff."

"What do you mean?"

"Talking to people, Lea's the one who talks to everyone. I'm not so good at it if he's not around."

"I'm pretty shy too, but I'm not a jerk about it!"

"But I thought girls liked it when guys act tough."

"What, who told you..." Xion lost her train of thought when an eerie, but familiar presence snaked up her spine. After working up the nerve, she faced who was lurking in the darkness.

An old man emerged from the shadows, he had piercing yellow eyes and dark skin that contrasted with his thinning, white facial hair. Yet despite a stark difference, he was undeniably the man she had only heard whispers of, who commanded her and the rest of the nobodies from the sheer mention of his name: Xemnas.

"-How fascinating to find another keyblade wielder in this world."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a pretty heavy chapter, next chapter will be a lot different though


	5. Black Garden

"K-Keyblade wielders, what're you talking about," Xion said in a desperate attempt to throw Xehanort off, but he didn't buy the act for a second and was more annoyed, than amused.

"Hmph, if you're going to lie to me, you can at least make yourself sound believable. Still, even though you are a keyblade wielder, I can sense how acclimated to the darkness you are."

"What do you mean?"

"It's because you're not afraid of the darkness..." He held out his arm and a long black cloak formed in his hand. "You're familiar with this type of garment, aren't you? You and that other keyblade wielder need these to withstand the darkness."

"How do you know about us?! Who are you?!"

"That doesn't concern you." Xehanort threw the black coat at Xion. "Put that on, you're coming with me."

"Why would I ever do that."

"You want to go home, don't you? If not, then certainly your friend will."

Xion's head and shoulders sank, losing her once defiant stance. She hated the fact she had to give herself up so easily, but if it meant keeping Roxas safe, then that was all the reason she needed. "Fine I'll go with you, but you have to promise not to hurt him."

"You have my word." He ended his sentence with a smirk, pleased everything was going his way as per usual.

After pulling the black coat over her school clothes, Xion waved Isa goodbye, then walked into the dark portal. Once they were completely submerged in the darkness, Xion felt a pull at her arm. She quickly spun her head round, muttering the name 'Roxas' under her breath, hoping and wishing it was him. However, she was surprised to find Isa glaring straight back at her.

Before she could formulate a response, Isa pulled her away and attempted to escape. But no matter how far they ran, Xehanort always remained two steps ahead and though they were able to lose sight of him, the way back home to their Radiant Garden was long gone.

"Shit, what do we do now?" Isa said.

"There's only one thing we can do." Taking initiative as Isa was starting to lose his confidence, Xion ripped off her black cloak and draped it over Isa.

"There, you need it more than I do." She took him by the hand, then forced herself into the unbridled darkness, searching desperately for a sliver of light that would lead them out of the shadows, wherever it would take them.

Finally, she found the light that freed them from the endless abyss and instead of being submerged in suffocating darkness, they were submerged in warm, tropical water. Xion and Isa swam their way to the surface and laid eyes upon a beautiful tropical island radiating under the sunlight.

Following a short swim, Xion and Isa collapsed on the sandy shores of the islands, exasperated and beaten. "Isa...hah..hah...what's wrong with you?!" Xion cried. "Now we're both trapped here! Why couldn't you let me go?!"

"I don't know, I thought I could pull you out in time."

"...just don't expect me to be different because you wanted to rescue me. I don't understand what people see in me that's worth saving anyway."

"That's funny coming from you."

"Why?"

"I figured you always had your head in the clouds. Didn't think you cared much about what other people thought of you."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, it makes you less boring." Isa stood up, then stretched his arms out.

Xion stood up along with him. "So you thought I was boring?"

"Yeah a little bit."

"Well my opinion on you still hasn't changed."

"Which is?"

"You're still a jerk, and I only tolerated you for Lea's sake. It doesn't matter what time I'm in, I can't even look at your face without thinking of..." Xion covered her mouth with her hands, shocked at what she just said. "No, no that came out wrong, I don't know why I would say that. I'm sorry, I must've really hurt your feelings."

"Nah, I'd hate for you to keep 'tolerating' me. Be as unfiltered as you like, I won't hold back either."

 _'Great_ , _I'm_ _such_ _an_ _idiot_.' "Listen, let's just focus on getting off this island first. I would use the darkness again, but I'm afraid it's already gotten to me from being in there so long without a cloak."

"What're you talking about?"

"...Nothing. I'm going on recon, you can do whatever you want." Xion disappeared into the tropical foliage, she had kept it the back of her mind for the longest time, but there was something so familiar about the world. As if she already walked down the same path and seen the same palm trees swaying back and forth in the temperament weather.

It didn't take long for Xion to stumble across a far off island connected by a wooden bridge, where a star shaped fruit hung from a lopsided tree. She went over to inspect it, drawn by memory, only to get sidetracked when she saw two little boys chasing Isa across the beach with toy swords.

 _'I hope you can handle it Isa.'_ Xion sat down on the lopsided trees and watched the waves collide in constant battle. ' _If only Roxas and Axel could be here, this world is beautiful. I wish I remembered its name.'_

—

"Xion really is gone."

The night was nearing its peak and the stars began fading away into the blackness of the sky. Roxas and Lea finished their last search for their missing friend, by now the name 'Xion' had become implemented into each building and house, yet there was no sign of her.

"...You don't think Xion ran away, did she? She seemed really upset after she left the restaurant," Lea said.

Roxas shook his head. "No, she said she was going for a walk. I think something might have happened to her."

"Yeah maybe it was that castle guard guy."

"Doubt it, there's no reason he'd want her." ' _By that logic, there's no reason Vanitas would go after her either, since he only wants me, and I know she wouldn't try to fight someone unless her life was in danger so what happened to her?'_

"Roxas... hey Roxas, you ok?"

"Oh, sorry, I was just thinking to myself."

Lea rubbed the back of his head. "Uh...hey, I wanna find Xion as much as you do, but it's already past midnight and I need to head home. I got school tomorrow er...today and everything, I promise to help you out the moment I leave school though!"

"No it's okay, thank you for helping me tonight, it means a lot to me."

"Don't sweat, that's what friends are for. And you're free to stay with me at my place since you have nowhere else to go."

"Thanks, but I still wanna keep looking a little bit longer, I'll drop by later tonight."

"Cool, see ya later then!"

Once they parted ways, Roxas took to the rooftops where he could get a better scope of Radiant Garden, but in the dead of night, everything appeared formless, only taking shape under the illumination of the moonlight. Roxas summoned fire magic within the palm of his hand for some added illumination, then proceeded quietly across the slanted roofs.

As he was nearing the outskirts of town, Roxas could hear a sound trailing not too far behind him. He put out the fire spell and used a chimney as cover, waiting for his pursuer to make the next move. ' _Wait, I know this presence. It's him, isn't it? Well I can take him.'_

The moment Roxas stepped out of cover, he came face to face with Vanitas, fully masked and equipped with his keyblade. "Let's pick up where we left off, Ventus. And this time, there won't be any interruptions."

"If that's what you want, I'm ready to fight you."

A sharp, screeching sound erupted when their blades met again. Roxas pushed down on his blade, yelling, "You won't defeat me, Vanitas!"

"You're lucky if I even give you the mercy of just defeating you!" Vanitas' keyblade was engulfed in a veil of darkness, he disappeared, then reappeared on top of the chimney where he stabbed his keyblade straight down into the brick fixture. A flash of black lightning ripped through the remains of the chimney, then surged across the roof, making part of it cave in.

Roxas fell down into the building and landed on the next floor, which was fortunately an empty office, but it didn't stop the sprinkler system from going off. _'Maybe I can use this water to my advantage.'_

He quickly rolled out of the way as Vanitas made his descent into the flooding room, then stood on top of a wooden desk. Roxas pointed his keyblade at Vanitas, mouthing the word 'thunder' and a dark cloud mass formed on the ceiling. Although Vanitas dodged the initial flash of lightning, when it struck the soaking wet floor, the electricity spread across the entire room and electrocuted Vanitas upon impact.

Despite receiving enough voltage to stop anyone in their tracks, Vanitas merely shook it off as if it were static electricity. "I'm surprised that girl didn't come up with that idea, if she was here anyway," He said.

"So you know what happened to her?! Then tell me where Xion is right now!"

"I don't know what you're talking about. Just face it, she doesn't give enough shits about you to stick around."

"Shut up! You don't know anything about Xion!" Roxas charged at Vanitas without his keyblade and slammed his fist straight down on his helmet. The resulting punch caused his helmet to once again shatter into pieces, which Roxas took as a chance to grab him by his spiky black hair, then throw him into the back wall.

"I know enough to piss you off, don't I?!" Using the back wall as a launching point, Vanitas propelled himself forward to lunge at Roxas. He crashed into him and the two of them smashed into the drywall, creating another hole in the building.

"You think you're so strong, Ventus?!" Vanitas said through gritted teeth. "But you can never beat me!"

Vanitas used his keyblade to stand himself up, then landed a direct strike across Roxas' chest. Roxas clenched his stomach, falling onto his knees first, then emitted a loud thump when he collapsed on the ground. Which Vanitas found to be a little more than disappointing that their battle couldn't last longer, but was intent to finish him off as promised.

"See ya on the other side." Vanitas raised his foot over Roxas' head and would've smashed it in, just like that, but before he could make contact, Roxas pushed Vanitas away, then picked himself up.

"Ha, I knew there was still some fight left in you!" He exclaimed, invigorated by his sudden burst of strength. When Vanitas swung his keyblade again, Roxas clasped his hand on the blade, stopping him in his tracks.

"I'm gonna break you." Was all Roxas said before summoning his keyblade as it now shone with a bright, white light that extended far beyond its usual close range reach. In a thunderous bout of rage, Roxas hammered down on Vanitas' keyblade until he broke through his defenses and forced him on the ground.

Acting with haste, Vanitas teleported behind Roxas, only for him to snatch his arm and slam him down on his back. Vanitas shook it off and lunged towards Roxas, keyblade in hand, sounding another ear-piercing screech when their blades made contact.

"Who are you?!" Vanitas demanded. "There's no way someone like you could be Ventus!"

"That's 'cause I'm not." Four pillars of light surrounded Vanitas, then collided into him. The small office was soon basked in a white light, that swallowed everything within its reach. When the light exhausted itself, so did Roxas and Vanitas who were both lying on the ground.

"Your power's no good if it leaves you exhausted."

Roxas was pulled to his feet by a strong force. Though his vision was cloudy and he was teetering on the edge of consciousness, he could still see the prominent features of Terra's face, beaming with radiance even in the night. "I'll take it from here," He said coolly.

"...You're...you're not even gonna let me finish what I started." Roxas fell back down on his knees.

"This isn't just your fight." Terra approached Vanitas, then kneeled down on one leg. "I said I would hunt you down Vanitas, but even if I destroy you now, you'll only come back for him in another world."

"Damn it, then let me do it if you won't!" Roxas yelled.

"I already told you, this isn't your fight, only Ven can finish him off for good. What matters is you kept him away from Ven, that's all we can do for him."

"I don't care..." Roxas dragged himself over to Vanitas, inching closer and closer to him until he could see his bruised face that was partially shrouded by shards of jet black glass. He grabbed the shattered remains of his helmet off the floor, then began piecing it back together on his face.

"What're you doing?" Terra asked.

"I hate looking at his face when it looks so much like mine...like Sora's." Once Vanitas' face was fully covered, Roxas stood up, his keyblade forming in his hand. He raised his keyblade over his body as if to impale him, only to strike his keyblade into the ground beside him.

"...I don't know who I'm supposed to be anymore," Roxas said, his voice shaking. "I thought if I didn't care about the small things, maybe they would go away, but now I'm just an idiot who doesn't know anything. Am I supposed to be Sora...or is Vanitas who I really am? Maybe I'm everything Sora hates."

Terra gave Roxas a sympathetic pat on the back. "Hey, I'm not sure how much this will help you, but if you're ever doubting yourself, think about what you're fighting for and stay focused on that."

Roxas thought in silence for a moment, contemplating on his answer. "...guess I'm just fighting so I can eat ice cream at the clock tower with my best friends afterwards."

"Then that's all you need...and that's what I'll do too." Terra stepped back. "I forgot to ask, what happened to your girlfriend?"

"My girlfriend? Oh you mean Xion," He shook his head. "I've been looking for her, but it's like she's vanished. I don't know where to look next."

"...I see, well she might not even be in Radiant Garden if that's the case."

"What are you serious?! Where would I even begin to look I...uh..." Roxas felt his dizziness creeping up back on him and he became rocking back and forth on his feet, Terra caught him before he could meet with the ground once more.

"Stay with me, Roxas, damn it!" Terra peered outside of the window into the empty streets, he grimaced, ' _Maybe he just needs some rest, either way I can't go back there.'_

Terra laid Roxas down on the floor, then sat beside him with his keyblade fastened over his chest. "You're more trouble than you're worth, Roxas."

It must of been the middle of the day by the time Terra woke up since he could see rays of sunlight shining on the gray floor. His body felt warmer than usual, although it wasn't from the sunlight, but he saw Roxas leaning on him.

' _Isn't he a little bit too old for that?'_ Regardless, Terra pushed him off when he stood up.

"...Xion...wait..." Roxas muttered in his sleep.

' _No wait, I get it now. I should wake him up.'_ Terra kicked him in the head, jolting Roxas awake.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Roxas yelled, he punched Terra's stomach, but probably ended up getting more hurt from the impact than he did. "Damn it, why did you kick me in the head?!"

"Uh, to wake you up?" Terra said it in such a matter-fact-of way, Roxas wondered if he hit his head too. "Now that you're up, I think we should part ways. I need to follow my own path, but I'll look for Xion along the way."

"Why can't I come with you? I'm...I'm not afraid of the darkness either!"

"That's not it. You'll only slow me down if I have to worry about you. "

"What happened to not taking paths alone? That's what you told me!"

"That was more for you, not me, besides, it wasn't good advice anyway. We're always alone, aren't we? No matter what path we take, we have to walk by ourselves eventually."

"Terra..."

"No, that wasn't what I meant...listen, Ven's begged me for so long to come with me, it wouldn't be fair to him if I brought you along. I know it's selfish, but I promise to bring Xion back to this world as soon as I find her."

"So I'm just supposed to wait around until you come back? I can't even save the one person who matters, well I'm tired of feeling helpless! I'll just find her myself!" Roxas jumped out of the building, then moved down the streets as if he had somewhere to go, some destination to reach, but he was as lost as when he first set out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: My first draft had Roxas going to jail and finding Ven there. I wrote it out and everything but ultimately decided it wasn't very kingdom hearts-y to have roxas and ven locked up behind bars :P


	6. Fever Pitch

"Roxas?"

"Roxas!"

Roxas felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned around and was surprised to see Aqua smiling back at him. "Sorry, I didn't scare you, did I?" She asked.

He shook his head.

"That's good, I was looking for Ven and I thought you might have seen him."

"Oh- so you didn't just mix the two of us up?"

That got a chuckle out of her. "It's not that hard to tell you two apart, you're always wearing different clothes."

"Yeah, that's true. What're you looking for Ventus anyway, isn't he still, you know, screwed up?"

"When I woke up this morning, his bed was empty, but I know where he's going. I know he's looking for Terra..." Aqua glared at him in a way that was so foreign from her usual calm, detached demeanor. Though he knew it wasn't directed towards him, he could still feel a little bit of fear rising up in his body. Ultimately, she let the anger cascade out of her in a long, drawn-out sigh, not wanting to antagonize Roxas.

"He didn't mean to hurt you, even if that's what he ended up doing," Roxas said quietly.

She shook her head. "It's okay, maybe it's time to focus on other things for now. You look a little lost yourself."

"Uh, yeah, Xion disappeared and I don't even know where to start." He rubbed the back of his head, then let out one of those awkward laughs that immediately telegraphed something was seriously wrong. "So it's me looking for her now, instead of the other way around."

"You don't know where to start?"

"Xion's not in this world, and there are so many worlds out there..." The more he talked about it, the more he remembered the total despair and isolation he felt last night stabbing him back in the chest, making him all choked up in front of Aqua. "...wh...where would I even start?"

"We'll leave this world and search for her together." She offered him her hand. "Maybe we'll run into Ven too, I'm sure he's already left this world by now."

There was something intrinsically reassuring about Aqua, she knew exactly what to say and knew that's exactly what he wanted to hear. Like, she could be full of shit and maybe they would end up in a worse state than they began, but he'd follow her in a heartbeat.

"Yeah...okay!"

"Let's just move somewhere with fewer people before we go."

"Good idea, everyone's starting to stare."

Roxas and Aqua drew near the outskirts of town, at least they assumed as much, of course, the threat of heartless was never too far off. "We're going to space, and since you don't have any keyblade armor, I'll cast a protect spell over you," Aqua said, coming to a stop.

*tap

*tap

*tap

Whatever part of town they were at, it was quiet, quiet enough that they didn't have to strain their voices to be heard over dozens of other people. One distinct sound filled in the agonizing silence; footsteps. Footsteps that seemed to linger, imprinting itself in the cement with every passing step.

"Sounds like we're not alone," Aqua said.

"—how unexpected it is to see you  _Master_  Aqua."

Finally, Xehanort arrived and calmly approached them with his hands behind his back. Roxas stood on edge, not sure if it was better to have his keyblade by his side or hidden away. ' _He looks like Xemnas, but how could he be older in the past? I'm not sure if he's a friend or foe.'_ He glanced over to Aqua to study her facial expression, but she also appeared to be deciding what his motive was.

"Most don't stray too far from the city's boundaries." Xehanort began. "Of fear for the monsters that lurk nearby."

"I know that's not why you came here," Aqua said.

"Always so prudent, Aqua. If you must know, I've heard about the disappearance of those two children and felt obligated to do everything I could to help. Which led me here to recruit the help of Roxas."

"I find that hard to believe, besides Roxas..." Her eyes drew over to the empty space beside her. "Roxas?"

Xehanort summoned his keyblade, then swung it around his back where it was met with the blade of Roxas' own keyblade. "You're lying! You took her away, where is she?!" Roxas yelled.

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be here, boy." Xehanort wrestled Roxas' keyblade out of his hand, then smashed it within his grasp. "An empty husk like you could never oppose me."

That was enough for Aqua to unsheath her keyblade, and raise her arm with intent to strike, but her body stopped in mid-movement. "I haven't the strength to combat both of you at once, so you'll be enough." He picked up Roxas by the collar. "I was hoping you could lead the way to your friend, but you're far too much trouble than you're worth."

"—Aqua's not the only one you have to worry about!" With a quick slash of his keyblade, Ventus broke Roxas free of Xehanort's grasp and the two gathered distance away from him.

"Hey, long time no see!" Ventus greeted.

"Right back at you, ready?"

"Let's do it!"

' _That time spell will wear off soon and I'm in no condition to fight the three of them. Roxas is the biggest threat, I need only get rid of them and they'll fall apart.'_  Xehanort raised his nameless keyblade, and with one hand, blocked Roxas and Ventus' onslaught of frontal attack. When Roxas predictably went to attack from behind, he teleported away and Roxas' keyblade slashed the empty air.

"Damn, who is that old guy anyway?"

"He's our master," Ventus said.

Suddenly, Ventus stopped moving right along with Aqua, which meant Roxas knew what was coming next. Although, he wasn't expecting a barrage of pitch black spheres to drive into his stomach and send him flying a few feet backwards.

Before he could get himself up, Xehanort took the liberty of picking Roxas up by his hair and holding him at arm's length in the air. The look in his eyes made it known he was intent to finish Roxas off this time, "You can give up on your search for Xion. Now that I know she's not in this world, I'll be sure to send her—"

Roxas wondered what he was going to say, but he was left to wonder as Aqua's keyblade impaled straight through his body and forced him to vanish into thin air. Without a moment's notice, she caught Roxas in her arms, "What happened, are you okay?!" She asked.

Roxas shook his head.

With the time spell fully worn off, Ventus wasted no time in running over to his side, "Where is Xehanort?! What did he do to you?!"

"...I think he cast some type of spell on me." A sigh escaped his lips, then he rolled his head to the side. "Listen, don't worry about it. I feel fine, really."

Parts of his body began fading out of existence, alarming Aqua and Ventus. Despite Roxas' protest and insistence 'he would be okay', his words fell on deaf ears as the two devoted themselves to using the spells in their arsenal to reverse the process.

"Nothing's working, let's just take you to Merlin and see what he can do," Aqua said, scooping him up in her arms. He would jump out, but his legs were the first to disappear and he would push her away but his arms were next.

Tired of fighting, Roxas let his words take over for him. "Aqua, Ventus, can you guys find Xion for me and tell her I'm sorry. She won't be so mad if it comes from you."

"What about you Roxas?!" Ventus cried.

"Me? I'm nothing, but...I really liked it here in Radiant Garden."

00:00:03

00:00:02

00:00:01

00:00:00

All Roxas could see was blackness, everywhere, until he opened his eyes and saw orange, red and yellow, meshed up together in a blotchy sky. He hated it.

How could the sky be so peaceful when everything in his life was crumbling at the seams? He could forgive it if the sun was just a little higher so it would burn his eyes or if it was a little lower so there would be nothing to look at, but it never moved, not once, not ever, definitely not now. Neither did Roxas, as he was content with basking in the twilight.

Tears welled up in his eyes, hot and stingy, and blurring his vision so all he could see was orange. "I'm back here...I'm back home, without her."

—

Xion realized she must have dozed off for a while because she woke up to a beautiful sunset that made the surrounding ocean glisten with a soft orange color. It made her sick. ' _I can't look at the sunset without thinking of Roxas and Axel, come on, there has to be some way to leave this island without having to use the darkness.'_

She made her way down to the shore, the waves were slowly rolling back and forth, temperamental to the time of day. Catching a glimpse of her reflection in the water, a sudden scowl formed across her face, not particularly happy with the crudely drawn beard and mustache on her face. ' _Are you serious? That's so childish.'_

Xion scooped up a handful of water, then splashed over her face. ' _It wouldn't be a bad idea to check my time, so I know who much of it I have left.'_ She unbuttoned her school shirt, then pulled it off. ' _41:07:14? Has it really been that long? The darkness must have sped up time or something, well, that's a little less than two days to-'_

"Hey, Xion."

"ISA?!" Xion shrieked, quickly hiding her breasts under her arms.

He rolled his eyes in response. "Relax, not like there's anything to look at."

Snapping her fingers, Isa was soaking wet from water. Xion reached for her school uniform, then buttoned it back up, "I hope you didn't come here just to annoy me, and I know it was you who drew on my face!"

"Ha, ha, actually the credit goes to those boys. I don't know, but I thought it made you look better."

"Ugh, so you're definitely not taking this whole trapped on an island thing seriously."

"What do you want me to do? Collect food and water, build us a stick tent? I'm waiting on you to use your dark portal thing."

"That's not how it works, Isa! I'm going to look around this island again, I know there's more to this world..." She wandered towards the wooden fortress that hung off the island, but before she was able to venture inside, someone shouted behind her.

"There's the monster, Riku! Come on, come on let's get her!"

"Wait, I don't think she's a monster, Sora."

Xion spun around and did her best scary face. "Roar! Silly boys, I am the monster!"

"See, I told you! I'll protect you, Riku!" A little boy with short, spiky brown hair charged at Xion with his toy sword. "Take this!"

Sora swung his sword on Xion's leg, though it didn't hurt much at all, she was down on her knees like he gave her the most devastating blow ever. Sora stood back, dumbfounded he had the strength to knock someone down twice his size so easily, but sure enough, Riku brought him back to reality, "She's just playing, stupid," He called out before running over to him. "Look, she's even smiling."

"Aw really?"

"Sorry, guess that gave it all away," Xion said. "But I wasn't expecting two little kids to come after me."

"That's 'cause Isa told us you were a monster, I didn't believe him, but of course Sora did," Riku said.

"Hey, that's not nice! I-I didn't believe him either!"

While the boys were arguing back at forth, Xion was studying them, ' _Sora and Riku were pretty cute as kids, they haven't changed too much, but there's someone else who's missing.'_

"-So are you from the town or something, grown-ups don't usually come to the island," Riku said.

"You could say that. I'm lost and trying to find a way back home."

"Well, me and Riku live in a town off the island, you can come stay with us if you don't have a home!" Sora exclaimed.

"Uh thanks, but I don't think that'll help much. Although, since you boys know this island so well, can you show me somewhere really mysterious?"

"Mysterious?"

"She means somewhere that's not normal," Riku explained, he then turned to Xion, skeptical. "Why do you wanna know?"

"I want to know everything I can about this island."

"There is one place on the island, but adults aren't allowed inside."

"What, are you serious? I'm not even an adult."

He crossed his arms. "You  _are_  a teenager, which is even worse. My dad told me."

"You know, you have a smart mouth for such a little kid." Xion walked past them. "I'll just have to find this secret place myself."

"No wait, Riku, she'll never find it! Come on, she played with us so she can't be that bad! Pleaseeeeeee!"

"Fine, whatever, but you better not tell anyone else about it. Only you and Isa knows."

Sora and Riku led Xion down to a boarded-up tunnel near the base of the waterfall she initially didn't pay much attention to. Knowing her, Xion would've carelessly walked straight past this secret entrance several times without ever thinking to investigate. She felt grateful the boys showed her the way and even swore up and down not to tell a living soul.

After crawling through the claustrophobic tunnel, the three reached the inside of the cave which was decorated with various drawings etched into the granite walls. Though the drawings were mere afterthoughts compared to the giant wooden door bolted into the wall.

' _I remember this place, bits and pieces anyway.'_  Xion grazed her hand over the door that clearly didn't belong in the cave, yet something would be missing if it weren't there. ' _I think it's a pathway to somewhere, not like it would do me any good.'_

She felt a tug on her arm, "Hey, we gotta go home 'cause our parents said there was gonna be a bad storm coming," Sora said.

"Oh, uh...ok."

"You don't wanna come with us?"

"No, I'm fine, thanks. I think I just wanna stay here for a little bit."

"M'kay, see ya! Come on Riku."

Once the boys left, Xion sunk down to her knees. ' _I don't know what I was expecting. I don't think I was expecting to find anything at all, I just wanted to look like I knew what I was doing. Oh well, for now, I'll wait here for Isa to come since he knows about this place.'_ Deciding against sleep, she kept herself busy by drawing on the cave walls and listening to the steady drumbeat of the rain as it developed from a light drizzle to a heavy downpour.

 _'It's been too long, I'll have to find Isa myself.'_  Xion stepped out of the solid rock cave floor into the damp, wet sand and had quickly got accustomed to the bullets of rain pelting on her skin.  _'Honestly, if it wasn't against my better judgment, I wouldn't bother with Isa.'_

"Isa?"

"Isa!" She was at the coast now. "Isa, answer me!"

Xion moved down from the shoreline towards the papou fruit tree. "Listen, I'm sorry about what I said, I just need to know if you're okay!"

*crackle-crackle

*BOOM

"Huh, what was-"

A long shadow cast over Xion from the palm tree that was about to fall down on her. Finally, Isa would reveal himself to her when he tackled into Xion and rolled away into safety.

At first, Xion was shocked, not able to properly articulate her feelings, but that shock quickly dissolved into uncontrollable anger. Her hands acted without conscious volition and clenched the collar of Isa's shirt, pulling him close so she could glare directly into his green eyes, "Damn it! All you ever do is hurt me, so why are you looking at me like that?! Why are you looking at me like I ever deserved to live?! I'm worthless, aren't I? I'm just a puppet! I don't have anything to offer this world!"

The rain masked the tears falling down her face and all Isa did was look on, confused.

"Stop looking at me like that! You always looked past me because you hate me!"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" He finally yelled back. "You don't know me! And I don't care what you think of me, I'm gonna save you no matter what! No matter how fucking stubborn you are, 'cause we're friends! Get that shit through your thick skull!"

"What? How could you ever think of me as a friend?!"

"Of course, why else do you think I jumped through that portal in the first place?! Don't you get it now? I want you to live!"

Xion laughed, a small laugh really, but it was enough to set Isa off. "Why are you laughing, is this funny to you?!"

"It's just...I never expected to hear that from you, it was sweet." She also didn't expect Isa to turn a dark shade of red, which only made her laugh more.  _'How could I ever think you were him, Isa? You can't be Saïx, not in a million years.'_

"Guess you don't get told that very often," She teased

"Shut up! Let's get out of this rain before you catch a cold or something."

Xion and Isa decided to go back inside the cave where Xion could light a small fire for them to dry off and not worry about catching anything on fire.

"Alright, I think I figured you out," Isa said.

"Am I that easy to read?"

"Nah, took me a while, see you act tough, but on the inside, you're pretty soft."

"Uh...that's one way to look at it."

"So am I right?"

"Well, I wouldn't call myself tough, I only do what needs to be done. Maybe I seem that way because there's so little I have to lose. You and Lea have so much to live for, it does make me jealous, but living just to see my friends one more day is enough to keep me going."

"...yeah, I'm way off. You're more brooding and angsty than I took you for, I guess the black hair should've given me a hint."

"Ah, you're getting enjoyment poking fun of me, aren't you?"

"A little, but you're pretty cool just being you."

"Me, cool?" She snorted. "You would say that."

They both shared a laugh, then soon fell asleep by the fire, exhaustion taking its toll.

The erupting sound of thunder was so loud it was like the heavens itself were being split apart and it jolted Xion awake. However, Isa still remained fast asleep. ' _He must be a heavy sleeper.'_

She managed to create a dark portal within the cave, if the loud clap of thunder didn't wake him, then surely the uncanny, suffocating sensation the darkness radiated would snake up his spine and wake him up. It didn't. Neither would shaking him awake or yelling into his ear. So Xion resorted to magic and somehow the splash of water over his face did the trick.

"Very funny, Xion." Isa muttered. "Wait- you can make your portals again?"

She shook her head. "I already told you how it works, I could always create a portal."

"Uh huh, so you were wasting time for what reason?"

"I realized there was no other way the two of us can leave this island together." Xion threw him the black cloak she rescued from the storm. "Go home, Isa."

"What, why? What's the point of going home if you're not coming?"

"There's no home for me at Radiant Garden."

"Even if that were true, are you just gonna abandon Roxas and Lea?!"

"I have to, there's only one cloak between us. It's not safe to travel the darkness without it and lose what little light I have." She smiled at him. "I'll be fine, Isa, okay? Radiant Garden is your home, it always will be, whether I'm there or not."

"No! I'm not going without you, so you can cut that shit out right now!"

"...Tell Roxas he'll just have to wait a little longer until he sees me, he'll believe it if it comes from you."

"You can tell him to his face!"

Xion approached Isa, unable to look him in the eye, but instead focused on the darkness that would lead his way home. "Keep going straight and never look back, if you're ever lost, follow the light, Radiant Garden shines the brightest." She grabbed Isa by the collar, then pushed him through the dark portal.

"Goodbye...Isa."


	7. End to Beginning

"The ocean...it's beautiful." Xion stared at the shifting waves, the water in perpetual motion. She rolled her head back. ' _I hope Isa is okay, I let a normal human go through the darkness like it was nothing.'_

As her eyes were focused on the waves, studying each curvature and form, suddenly, the waves stopped rolling and the ocean went completely still. Ostensibly, undisturbed by the outside elements. Xion stood up, her keyblade in hand,  _'Something's coming.'_

"This world is just too small."

Xion spun herself around and saw Xehanort walking towards her, calm as usual. "I suppose you want to take me back now and turn me into one of your puppets," She said.

"Precisely."

"I won't let that happen! My friends are counting on me to get back home!"

"Not to worry, I'll make sure your stay is permanent."

' _He's arrogant because he knows he can win. That's okay, I'm not interested in fighting him. I do have to incapacitate him, somehow, at least long enough for me to escape.'_ Reeling her keyblade back, Xion bolted towards Xehanort and their keyblades clashed together. ' _He has a keyblade?!'_ She backed away from him.

' _Not even Xemnas has a keyblade, so who is this guy?'_ Xion wasn't given much time to dwell on his identity when several dark spheres spiraled at her. She dodged the first several, then used her keyblade to reflect the rest of the onslaught.

When the last of the dark spheres dissipated into nothingness, Xehanort teleported behind Xion and grabbed her by the hair. Xion swiftly kicked him in the stomach, which seemed to do the trick since he released hold of her.

' _I guess his old age is showing. Maybe this will work!'_ "Firaga!" She lit his body in a blazing fire that swallowed him whole.

While the fire was still going, Xion ran the hell away from him only to be stopped dead in her tracks. Though her body movements paused, her mind was racing a million miles an hour for answers. ' _This isn't good, but maybe I can use this stop spell to my advantage.'_  Once the stop spell ran its course, she decided to remain still and wait for Xehanort to come to her. The moment she felt his presence slither up her spine, Xion spun around, hoping to catch Xehanort off guard and wasted no time in casting 'Thundaga', followed by a 'Blizzaga' spell on him.

He was rendered a mere block of ice frozen to the sand, which Xion went as far as to cast 'Stopga' on him as well for safe measure. ' _There goes all of my magic, but that should be enough.'_

"Are you done, girl?" Xehanort asked, strolling up behind her. He smirked. "Ah, those eyes filled with hopelessness. That boy looked at me the same way when I sent him to his grave."

"What're you talking about?! You did something to Roxas, didn't you?! I knew I couldn't trust you!"

"Don't humor me. Now submit or I'll have to leave you just barely alive so I can drag you into the darkness. There's no one left to save you."

Xion couldn't fight back the tears welled up in her eyes and streaming down her face as much as she hated to cry in front of him. "This pain I feel, it's proof, isn't it? That there's something beating inside of me! So how could you have a heart and still...and still be so heartless?!" She cried.

"You lack an understanding of what a heart is. Even worse, you lack an understanding of yourself. A heart means nothing if you don't who you are."

She sunk to her knees, her tears absorbed into the white sand. "...If having a heart means you're no better than a nobody, then what am I even fighting for?!" Xion grasped a handful of sand, then watched it slip between the crevices of her fingers. "I mean, what am I fighting for?"

"So you understand now? Good. On your feet." Xehanort snapped his fingers and a dark portal appeared. When Xion gazed into the endless abyss waiting for her, she remembered exactly why she was fighting.

"No...I have to live," Xion said, standing to her feet. "At least long enough to know exactly who I am. And I can't do that if you take me away. My place is with my friends and I'd die before you tell me otherwise."

"I see, then why don't we test that theory." Xehanort summoned his keyblade, gripping it tightly in one hand, but before he could take a forward, he suddenly cast a protect barrier around himself.

 _'I know that's not for me, what is he doing?'_  Her answer came when a blonde haired boy slammed his keyblade on the barrier, then was forced to jump back.

"Roxas?" The boy ran towards Xion, then grabbed her arm. "No...it's you Ven."

"We gotta get away from here!" He pointed at the giant, flaming meteor falling down towards Xehanort. Ventus and Xion retreated back to the shoreline so they wouldn't get caught in the blast. The resulting explosion from the impact swallowed a big chunk of the beach and created glass shards that stuck out of the charred ground.

"Cool, huh," Ventus remarked.

"Sure, that wasn't terrifying at all."

"Aqua learned it from Terra, big explosions aren't really her style, but she thought it was necessary for Xehanort."

"So Aqua's here too?"

"Uh huh, no way I could pull off something like that."

While the dust settled, a metallic keyblade sliced through the black clouds and Aqua emerged from the debris. She pointed her keyblade at the dust. "Aero!" The dust was blown away by a powerful gust of wind, yet Xehanort was nowhere to be seen. Not even any traces of his remains.

"You think he's still on the island?" Xion asked.

"Don't know, last time he took Roxas away. He's probably in the shadows somewhere, waiting," Ventus said.

"At least he's gone."

"Xion! Are you okay?" Aqua asked, rushing to her. Xion nodded in reply, bringing a small smile to her face. "Xion...Roxas told us to tell you he's sorry. And I'm sorry we couldn't save him ourselves, he disappeared in my arms."

"Oh? Maybe he's okay after all. How did you guys find me anyway?"

"Isa told us you were at a beach and that's all we needed. He looked really upset," Ventus explained.

"Well I did have to fore him to leave. At least he's safe now, but I don't know if I'll be for long. Xehanort is waiting for me. If I go back to Radiant Garden, him or one of his goons will find me again. I don't what to do."

"If you need somewhere to hide, I know the perfect place. It'll keep you safe for a few days," Aqua said.

"That's all I need." She started tearing up again. "Thank you guys so much for everything, I don't know what would've happened to me if you hadn't shown up."

Aqua and Ventus smiled at her.

"'Course! That's what friends are for!" Ventus boasted.

Aqua nodded. "That's right. We'll always have each other to count on."

"...thank you, thank you so much, Aqua, Ven."

—

"So how long are you gonna lay around on the street?"

"I don't know, until..." Roxas trailed off when he saw Axel looking down on him, worried. He caught himself before he said 'Lea' and mumbled out, "Axel," as if he didn't believe he was real, standing right there.

"Been a while, huh?" Axel continued. "But, it's not like I missed you or anything-"

Roxas hugged Axel, squeezing him as hard as he could just to make sure he was real. "I missed you Axel... I'm glad you're here."

"..."

"Axel?" He glanced up and saw Axel wiping his face with his arm.

"Stupid kid, you think I actually cared? You should know better."

"Yeah, I should, I got that memorized."

"Uh...Hey, wait a minute, where's Xion?"

"...It's a long story. I'll tell you at the clock tower."

Axel used the darkness while Roxas was stuck getting there on foot, still lacking his Organization cloak. By the time Roxas reached the clock tower, Axel already made himself comfortable and was leaning back on the clock face. "You sure took your time," He commented when Roxas arrived.

Roxas made a low grumble in response, then plopped down on the ledge. He looked over at Axel who returned it with a what're-you-waiting-for look. ' _It's not like I can tell Axel exactly what happened, he won't believe me and it'll probably make things awkward.'_  "...Me and Xion were trapped in another world, and then..." He clenched his knees so he could mask how furious he was at himself. "You won't believe it, I actually lost her."

"Don't beat yourself up, kid. Which world were you at, we can find her together."

He shook his head. "I don't really know where it is or even where to begin. So I'll just wait for her right here."

"You're not going back to the castle?"

"So Saïx can murder me? No thanks. I'll wait for Xion, no matter how long it takes."

"I get it, you guys are gonna die together."

"Yep, wouldn't have it any other way. How's the Organization anyway?"

Axel rubbed the back of his head. "It's pretty bad. Without the keyblade to collect hearts, no one feels responsible for anything so the work ethic is practically nonexistent. The boss has been pretty quiet, but Saïx told me he'd kill you if you weren't already dead."

"Seriously?! I have to go back to that?"

"Well it has been two weeks."

"Two weeks?!" He yelled. "But we've only been gone for a few days!"

"Don't look at me, time flows differently in each world, that's why our assignments can only last so long."

"Damn it, and all the hearts I'll have to collect! Maybe it's better if he did kill me!"

"Heh heh, don't worry, you won't have to go through it alone. Xion'll be there with you."

"But you're gonna keep your distance, huh?"

"Hey, I'll support you from the sidelines. Listen, between you and me, I bet you can definitely beat Saïx in a fight any day!"

"Oh gee, thanks, and if he beats me to a bloody pulp in the process?"

"Got tons of cures and potions for ya." Axel stood up. "Well, I'm gonna let the Organization know you're still missing. But I'll be back tomorrow, let me know if Xion turns up, alright?"

"I will, also, can you get me an Organization cloak? This school uniform is so uncomfortable."

"Yeah, sure. I'll get that memorized. Bye now!"

"See ya!" Roxas gazed out at the sunset. ' _Wonder how long it'll be 'till Xion can see the sunset with me?'_

Seconds turned into minutes, turned into hours, turned into a day of staring at the sunset. Roxas drifted back and forth between sleep and awake, he eventually shut his eyes, and when he opened them back up, Axel was smirking at him.

"Morning sleeping beauty, looks like you're serious about the whole not going back to the castle thing."

"I told you I'll wait for her."

"I got something for you, here," Axel threw Roxas an Organization cloak.

"Ah, thanks." He slipped the cloak over his body, feeling a sense of nostalgia with the heavy black leather on his back again. "Not being able to use the darkness really sucks."

"I bet it does, you know, it's almost been two days since you've decided to stay here."

"It can be two weeks for all I care. I got everything I need here."

"Don't lie to yourself, bet your back is killing you."

Roxas gave Axel an exhausted expression. "Eh, how'd you know?"

"Just a wild guess. And I don't think laying on the concrete is that comfortable."

"—I don't know, sounds just like a dumb thing Roxas would do," Xion said, casually joining them at the clock tower.

Her voice, it had to be her voice that he hadn't heard in what felt like years that got him first. Or maybe it was her face, full of life and vibrancy. Whichever it was, it took Roxas by surprise and it made him fall off the clock tower ledge. Xion rushed over to the ledge, ready to jump after him if Axel didn't hold her back.

"Geez Xion, didn't think you had a death wish," Axel said.

"Huh, but, Roxas he's..."

Right then, a dark portal manifested beside them and Roxas walked out from the darkness, grinning. "Ha ha, you should've seen the dopey look on your face, Xion!"

"Very funny Roxas." Xion stomped on his foot first, then embraced him. She wished she wouldn't have to let go so this feeling of being in his arms and her head resting on his chest would last forever. "Did you miss me?"

"Nope."

She smiled. "Me neither. I just want it to stay like this."

"I know. I don't ever want to let you go."

"Ugh. When'd you guys get so corny?" Axel interrupted.

"Axel!" Xion let go of Roxas to hug Axel, which Roxas joined and the three shared a long-awaited group hug. "It's so good to see everyone again. I missed you so much Axel!"

"Yeah, m...me too."

"Are you crying, Axel?" Xion asked.

"N-No! Of course not, shut up!"

They let go of each other. "So you two ready to go back, and finally put the Organization at rest," Axel said.

Xion sighed. "Back to that place again, huh."

"It won't be so bad." Roxas wrapped his fingers around Xion's hand, then gave it a reassuring squeeze. "As long as you're here with me, I can do anything for you."

"Heh heh, that sounded so hokey. Being away for so long made us go soft." She leaned on his shoulder. "I'm ready to go home."

Diary Entry #68

_It's been a month since me and Xion returned to the Organization and I think things are beginning to go back to normal. Somehow, I'm still playing catch up for all the hearts we didn't collect..._

_Saïx was pretty pissed when he first saw us, think he yelled at us for an hour straight before calming himself down. And then he yelled some more. I don't care as much now, Xion told me about how cool Isa was and how much he changed when they were stuck on Destiny Islands together, I don't buy it_ — _the cool part, but he kept Xion safe so I can't be that mad._

_Besides, I think Saïx warmed up to us a little bit, which isn't saying much, but he did start calling Xion by 'she' and 'her'. He didn't use to do that, and I don't think he realizes it either. Oh well, it made Xion happy. But I'm pretty sure the murderous intent Saïx had went to Xigbar 'cause he always looks like he wants to kill me. Xaldin isn't ever happy to see me either, not that he ever was._

_Axel's been a lot more open with us too, he even talks about his past as a human sometimes, but it's not so much a mystery anymore. I slipped up and called him Lea on accident, but he didn't mind, he even said it was okay. Wonder how Saïx would feel if I called him Isa? Probably wouldn't like it._

_Well, I'm just avoiding it now at this point. Me and Xion went out a lot together, I didn't ever wanna leave her side and she didn't ever wanna leave mine. I think I even loved her, is that even real for nobodies? I need a heart first to know for sure, but I still wanted to tell her. I wish I did._

_Oh right, she's gone now._

_I guess It all started since we got back, I knew she was hiding something, but she wouldn't tell me and kept insisting she was fine. She'd ask from time to time why we were fighting and why we even needed hearts, I didn't know. I saw her less and less, then one day she gave me a kiss and told me she didn't know if she would see me again. That was three days ago. I wonder where she is now._

I remember it now...all of it

It all started on that day

The day I first met you

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter so I thought it was appropriate to leave it on an ambiguous note in typical kh style. In any case, it's been a wild ride, thanks for staying on board and enjoying RE:wind :)
> 
> Oh and to clear up any confusion, Aqua and Ven took Xion to the land of departure to stay where she waited 37 hours until her time was up. Xehanort cast dispel on Roxas in chapter 6 to rid him of the spell the heartless cast on him. Also, Aqua can't actually learn the spell 'meteor' in KHBBS which is why added that conspicuous line about Terra teaching Aqua the spell. Xehanort's properly done with all their shit so he basically gave up on Xion lmao.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, I really enjoyed writing this! ^_^


End file.
